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HISTORY 






ANCIENT BRITONS, 



THE EARLIEST PERIOD 



THE INVASION OF THE SAXONS. 



COMPILED FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTHORITIEH. 



BY THE 

REV. J. A. GILES, D.C.L. 

LATE FELLOW OK C.C.C. OXFORD; 

lUTUOR Of THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS A BECKET, 

AND EDITOR OF PATRES ECCLESIili ANOLICANiM. 



LONDON, 

<.E()RGi; iu;li„ i,^g, mj:ej' sriiiii'/r. 

IM7. 






BAXTER, PRINXEU, OXBORP. 



PREFACE. 



Having long felt the want of a detailed history of 
the first inhabitants of Britain, founded upon the 
accounts which the Greeks an.l Romans have left us 
of their connection with this island, I have endeavoured 
in these volumes, as far as was in my power, to supply 
the deficiency. The sources from which the work is 
compiled are extensive, it is true, as regards the 
number of writers from whom our knowledge is de- 
rived, but in general bulk, and as far as concerns the 
information which we gain from them, they are re- 
markably scanty. They are all comprised in one 
volume of " Historical Documents concerning the 
Ancient Britons," which forms the Appendix to this 
work; so that the reader will have at hand all the 
authorities for every statement which this work con- 
tains, and may immediately verify every fact for him- 
self. As in the Preface to the Historical Documents, 
I have given all the information which is necessary on 
the writers whose works are contained in that volume, 
it would be superfluous to recapitulate the same here. 
It is important, however, to mention one peculiarity of 
the present work, which, as it has commended itself to 
my choice after long consideration, will, T hope, be 
equally approved by the reader. 1 have abstained 
from attom()tiiig to give colouring or life to tliost* facts 
b 



U PREFACE. 

of which the contemporary historians have left us only 
a bare skeleton, or an inanimate sketch. I cannot but 
regret, that historians in general have so widely de- 
parted from this rule; for by indulging their own 
imaginations, and by putting their own construction 
upon facts, though they may have succeeded in making 
their work philosophical, yet this advantage has been 
attended with the loss of its historical character. To 
avoid this departure from historic truth, no plan seems 
so successful as to introduce all important parts of the 
narrative in the words of the contemporary writer, and, 
if possible, of one who has been an eye-witness of the 
facts which he records. What account of the invasion 
of Britain by Ceesar, and of the adventures which befel 
him during his short stay in the island, can be so 
interesting, or so authentic, as that which Csesar 
himself has left in his own Commentaries? Con- 
sistently with this principle, the reader will find that 
I have related the wars of Csesar, of Claudius, Agricola, 
Severus, Carausius, and others, in the very .words of 
the historian who then lived, or who came nearest to 
their times. 

Another rule, of almost equal importance witli\ the 
former, has been rigidly adhered to; namely, to neglect J 
all unfounded statements and views of modern writers ; 
some of whom have indulged in fancies of the most 
puerile and trifling character, often with the view of 
supporting some political or religious theory of their 
own, but which does not depend upon the authority of 
ancient writers. 

Though the present work is not the first which 
pretends to the character of a regular detailed history 
of the Ancient Britons, yet an examination of those 
which have preceded, will, it is believed, lead the 



PREFACE. Ill 

reader to tlie conclusion, that the subject has never 
before been treated so fully, with strict regard to real 
history, and in exclusion of all fabulous legends. 

The first notices of Britain are found in the Grecian 
and Roman \vi'iters ; in the works of Gildas, Nennius, 
Bede, and Richard of Cirencester, who in the four- 
teenth century copied from an ancient Roman writing 
now lost. For information on these writers, the reader 
is referred to the Preface of the Historical Documents 
before mentioned. 

Besides those contemporary writers, the middle ages 
furnish a long list of names of those who have noticed 
incidentally the Ancient Britons ; but they all wrote at 
second hand, and can be of little use as authorities to us, 
who know probably more of the Ancient Britons than 
they did. Such were Aldhdm, Alcuin, Eddius, Asser, 
the authors of the Saxon Chronicle, Florence of 
Worcester, William of Malmesbury, Galfridus of Llan- 
daff, author of the Liber Llandavensis, Henry of Hun- 
tingdon, Ordericus Vitalis, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and 
a vast number of other monastic historians, who have 
all more or less referred to the subject. 

But the first person in modern times who attempted 
on sound principles to throw light on British Anti- 
quities, was Leland the Antiquary, who in the reign of 
Henry VHl. made a tour through the island, examined 
every spot where historical occurrences were said to 
have happened, and collected the fruits of his labours 
into his two works. Collectanea and Itinera. 

The next writer who added to the knowledge of 
British Antiquities was Speed, author of the Theatre of 
Great Britain, which cost the author the labour of 
many years, and was a most valuable addition to the 
existing store of works on our domestic history. 



IV PREFACE. 

But all these writers treated of our history in general, 
and made no more than incidental mention of the 
Ancient Britons. About the year 1600 appeared that 
valuable work, Camden's Britannia, in which the first 
attempt was made in the early part of the work to 
reduce into a connected narrative all that was left by 
the Classical writers concerning Ancient Britain and 
its inhabitants. But this narrative is necessarily much 
abridged, and contains merely an outline of the subject. 

Other works more immediately touching on our 
present subject are the Britannicarum Ecclesiarum 
Antiquitates of Archbishop Usher, and the Origines 
Sacrse of Stillingfleet. But these also principally 
concern the state of religion amongst the Britons, 
and even with the narrow limits of that subject many 
legends are admitted as historical facts, which deserve 
to be banished to the regions of Romance. 

Within the last few years, another work has been 
published on the Ancient Britons, entitled, " Researches 
into the ecclesiastical and political state, of Ancient 
Britain under the Roman em.perors, with observations 
upon the principal events and characters connected 
with the Christian religion during the first five cen- 
turies. By the late Rev. Francis Thackeray, A.M. 
formerly of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Lond. 
T. Cadell, Strand, mdcccxliii." 

On coming to examine this work, I found that it 
would be of great assistance in compiling my own, but 
that its long digressions on religious subjects, aspira- 
tions for the success of the Christian Church, and 
other similar peculiarities, entirely disqualified it for 
being received as a History of Ancient Britain. 

As the present times are singularly distinguished 
from those which immediately preceded, by religious 



PREFACE. V 

discussions, originating- often in party bias, and con- 
ducted with warmth which rather perplexes than illus- 
trates the subject, I cannot suffer this opportunity to 
pass by without declaring- my conviction, that both 
parties have rather established their skill in polemics, 
than shewn a faithful desire to arrive at truth. Whilst 
it has been the object with the one to prove the anti- 
quity of the Church in England, and its independence 
of the see of Rome; their adversaries have laboured to 
prove, that all ecclesiastical establishments in the West 
owe their origin to missions from the capital of Italy. 
But both parties have in this discussion been fighting 
for a shadow. The pretensions of the Church of Rome 
must be assailed or defended upon their own merits . 
if they are false, no antiquity, no planting of colonies, 
or sending of missions, can maintain them. If true, 
no time can make them obsolete. As a vi^ork on the 
Ancient Britons must necessarily treat on a subject so 
prominent in all European history, as the establish- 
ment of the Christian Religion, I think it right to have 
indulged in these remarks, and to invite the reader to 
bestow the same impartiality in reading the facts here 
collected, which I have myself shewn in bringing them 
together, and in dealing with the whole subject. 
History is no better than a romance, if those who 
write it bring to their task preconceived opinions, or 
if readers cast away the book which contains unwhole- 
some or unpalatable truths. 

As our information concerning the race of men who 
first inhabited this island, like all other history, must 
be obtained either from books, inscriptions found on 
ancient monuments, or from remains found scattered 
throughout the country, or buried beneath the surface 
of the ground, it is right to caution the reader, that he 



VI PREFACE, 

is not to expect from this work a full account of the 
various coins, inscriptions, and monuments found in 
this island, and supposed to belong to the period treated 
of in this volume. It is very uncertain by whom such 
coins were struck, or who were the builders of the 
monuments in question. In short, it is to be borne in 
mind, that the history of the Ancient Britons, as it may 
be gathered from books alone, has been here treated 
of, but for the numismatics, architecture, and anti- 
quities supposed to belong to that people, the reader 
must consult other books devoted almost exclusively to 
the subject. 

Neither do the geography and topography of 
Britain enter more than incidentally into the plan of 
the present work. These are subjects which require a 
separate consideration ; and, as our knowledge of them 
is remarkably little, they cannot fail to cause the student 
no small labour and distraction of mind. In the vo- 
lume of Historical Documents, are given those portions 
of the ancient geographers, Ptolemy and others, 
together with the extracts from the Notitia Imperii, 
and Itinerarium Antonini, which concern the history 
of Britain. 

J. A. G. 
Bampton, Sept. I, 1847. 



CONTENTS. 



Chap. I. Introduction. — Grecian, Roman, and Phoenician Navigators. 1 

II. Caesar's invasion of Britain in the mouth of August, B. C. 55. 14 

III. Caesar's second invasion. 29 

IV. Geoflfrey of Monmouth — His fabulous history of Britain before the 
time of Caesar — His account of Cajsar's invasion. 45 

V. Sensation produced at Rome by the British expedition — Augustus — 
Notices of Britain by Poets and Geographers. 53 

VI. Britain left to itself by Tiberius — the foolish expedition of Caligula — 
Claudius — Conquestof Britain by his general Plautius — Vespasian after- 
wards emperor. 69 

VII. Plautius — Vespasian — Ostorius Scapula — Caractacus. 80 

VIII. Nero's cruel reign — The Britons revolt under Boadicea: Camalo- 
dunum, London, and Veridam are burnt — Suetonius Paulinus returns 
from Anglesey, and defeats the Britons with immense slaughter. 96 

IX. The emperors Galba, Otho, ViteUius — Petronius Turpilianus, Tre- 
bellius Maximus, and Vettius Bolanus, governors of Britain. 110 

X. The reigns of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian — Petilius Cerealis, Julius 
Frontinus, and Julius Agricola, Propraetors of Britain — Wars of Agricola, 
defeat of Galgacus, and the Caledonians — Final settlement of the Roman 
province in Britain. 120 

XI. Sallustius Lucullus, Lieutenant of Britain — Reigns of Nerva, Trajan, 
and Hadrian — Little known of Britain for many years — its trade and 
miscellaneous productions — the Druids — their full. 153 

XII. Whether Christianity was introduced into Britain before A. 1). 120. — 
St. Paul — St. Peter — Simon Zelotes — Pomponia Gra'cina — Claudia — 
Gildas. 179 

XIII. Reigns of Antoninus Pius — Marcus Aurelius — Commodus. — J^ollius 
Urbicus, Ulpius Marcellus, and Clodius Albinus, governors of Britain — 
Lucius, one of the tributary kings of tlie Britons, converted to Chrisli- 
auity. 200 



viii CONTENTS. 

XIV. The reigns of Pertinax, Didius Julianus, and Severus. — Albinus, 
governor of Britain — Contest between Severus Albinus and Niger — Battle 
of Lyons — Virius Lupus, governor of Britain — Severus arrives in Britain 
in 208 — his invasion of Caledonia in 209 — builds the wall across the 
island in 210— dies at York in 211. 219 

XV. Reigns of Caracalla and Geta — Ossian's poems, Fingal, &c. — Macri- 
nus — Elagabalus — Alexander Severus, &c. — Carinus — Diocletian and 
Maximian — Carausius revolts in Britain — is murdered by Allectus — 
AUectus is slain, and Britain restored to the empire by Coustantius. 246 

XVI. Persecution of the Christians from A. D. 303 to 313 — less violent 
in Britain — The legend of the passion of Saint Alban probably much 
interpolated. 272 

XVII. Resignation of Diocletian and Maximian, A. D. 305 — Galerius and 
Constantius emperors — Constantius in Britain — Constantine escapes to 
his father Constantius — Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius, and 
becomes sole emperor — Synods of Aries and Nice. 282 

XVIII. Sons of Constantine the Great, Constantine II, Constans, and 
Constantius — Councils of Nice and Sardica — Rebellion and defeat of 
Magnentius a Briton — Paulus Catena in Britain — Julian in Gaid — 
Lupicinus. 301 

XIX. Constantius — Religious disputes — Synod of Rimini — British 
Bishops— Julian — Jovian — Valentinian — Picts and Scots — Britain saved 
by Theodosius. 313 

XX. Emperors Gratian and Valentinian II. — Death of Valens — Gratian 
appoints Theodosius, emperor of the East — Gratian's neglect of his 
imperial duties — disaffection of the troops — Maximus revolts in Bri- 
tain — death of Gratian — Maximus defeated and slain by Theodosius. 326 

XXI. Britain exhausted by successive emigrations — Theodosius — Chry- 
santhus viceroy of Britain — Arcadius and Honorius emperors — Stilicho — 
Picts and Scots — Marcus, and Gratian Municeps, tyrants in Britain, 
slain by their soldiers — Constantine emperor in Britain — conquers Gaul 
and Spain — is slain by Constantius. 341 

XXII. Britain again free — governed by her native rulers— not able to 
enjoy the privilege of freedom — the Christian religion already corrupted — 
the Arian heresy — the Pelagian heresy — Germanus and Lupus come fi"om 
Gaul. 356 

XXIII. The Missions of Palladius and St. Patrick to Ireland. 377 

XXIV. Enfeebled state of Britain in the fifth century — The Britons 
apply to Rome — They apply a second time to ^-Etius — The groans of the 
Britons — Vortigeni—Aurelius Ambrosius — The Saxons, lleugist and 
Horsa — The history oi' tlu' Ancient Britons ends — Conclusion. 38 J 

Additional NoxEa. 395 

1^DKX. 4(17 



HISTORY 

OF THE 

CHAP. I. 

INTRODUCTION.— GRECIAN, ROMAN, AND PHOENICIAN 
NAVIGATORS. 

It is the practice of those who have written the 
history of their country, to complain of the obscurity 
in which its earliest annals are involved. This com- 
plaint indeed is too well founded to admit of doubt: 
for there is no nation, now existing' on the earth, 
whose history can be traced back with certainty more 
than two thousand five hundred years. The history 
of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchies exists only 
in shadow and outline, and the contradictory accounts 
which have come down to us in the pages of his- 
torians suffice to shew, that we know next to nothing 
of their real history. The only exception to this 
statement is to be made in favour of the books of 
Moses, which doubtlessly exhibit a pictui'e of oriental 
life, and that principally domestic life, which existed 
in Asia at a period of very remote antiquity. But 
the writings of Moses carry us back no farther into 
the past than the space of about six thousand years, 
whereas there is the most conclusive evidence that 



2 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.I, 

the world has existed in its present state more than 
six times that Hmited period. It appears therefore 
that our knowledge of the past is confined to a very 
narrow compass, compared with the infinite duration 
of time which has elapsed. But however mortifying 
this may be to man, whose expansive intellect grasps 
at eternity, it is equally evident that all our researches 
into the history of the past must have a limit some- 
where. Man is a finite being, whose existence is 
bounded to a certain duration which he cannot pass : 
his powers of observation are as limited as his ex- 
istence; the imperfection of his sensual structure, 
through which alone knowledge is conveyed to his 
intellect, is such, that it is unable to furnish indefinite 
aliment to the mind; even if the mind were not on the 
other hand equally unable to retain all the impressions 
which the external senses can furnish. Thus the 
human intellect, like our physical organization, takes 
cognizance of a very small part of the universe, 
whether of mind or matter. That which has preceded 
our own immediate career is at some point or other 
as effectually concealed from our view as that which 
is to follow it. This process has no doubt been 
going on ever since the first creation of the human 
race: but previously to the fifteenth century, its 
operation was much more rapid than it has been 
since that time : the province of history was then con- 
tinually liable to be narrowed and curtailed by the 
destruction of its oldest documents, which the slow 
labours of the scribe were unable to replace or to 
compensate. We are at liberty to believe that this 
onward movement, by which, as fresh fields have 
\)een opened, preceding ones have been closed to 
the historian, has been continually in operation, at a 



CH. I.] INTRODUCTION. 3 

period extending far beyond the earliest of our 
existing records. It is in vain tlierefore tliat we 
push our enquiries beyond the usual barriers which 
exclude us from the domains of hoary antiquity. 
The labour of a life is vainly spent in exploring the 
darkness which envelopes them, and the only fruit 
which has as yet been gathered by the most successful 
antiquarians is limited to a few hints and surmises, 
founded as much on a general knowledge of human 
affairs as on any certain basis of facts furnished by 
the subject of their enquiries. The inference to 
which these remarks lead us is no doubt mortifying 
to the mind of the ardent enquirer, but he may derive 
consolation from the ample materials which remain. 
The actual province of history is sufficiently extensive, 
without our attempting to penetrate into the obscurity 
which precedes it: the achievements of man, in the 
many and diversified forms under which his race is 
developed, will furnish matter sufficient to occupy 
and fill the mind of the most enthusiastic enquirer, 
even if his researches are limited to the history of 
that country only to which he owes his birth. 

These observations will prepare the reader to 
expect that the history of England cannot be carried 
back to a more remote period than other European 
countries, whose circumstances are nearly the same. 
Indeed its insular position, whereby it is in a way 
cut off from the rest of the known world, would 
naturally retard its civilization; and its greater 
distance from Greece and Italy, whence we know^ all 
European learning to have flowed, would be an 
additional reason why its progress in improvement 
and the arts of civilized life should have been more 
slow, and have commenced at a later period than tliat 
IJ 2 



4 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. I. 

of Gaul and other countries more advantageously 
placed by nature. 

If then we would wish to picture to ourselves the 
state of these islands some centuries before the 
Christian era, we must suppose all the improvements 
of art and civilization, which now cover the face of 
the country, to be swept away. There were no canals, 
no railways or public roads, no towns, castles, or 
cities. The scenery was no doubt as beautiful as 
nature and a climate favourable for vegetation could 
make it. Forests of gigantic oaks covered two-thirds 
of the whole country, and herds of wild deer bound- 
ing through the forests made every thing look full 
of life and motion. Towards the south, large tracts 
of country consisted, as they consist at present, of 
heath and chalk lands, whose arid soils and iron- 
bound surface disqualified them for the production 
of other than trees of a dwarfish and stunted growth. 
On the eastern and western coasts, more particularly 
in Lincolnshire and Somersetshire, lay extensive 
swamps to which the sea had access, and this, aug- 
mented by the overflowing rivers, rendered large 
tracts of territory unfit for the residence of either 
man or beast. Fishes and reptiles were the natural 
inhabitants of these swamps: the bustard and the 
black cock roamed over the open downs, and at some 
period or other we are sure that the hyjiena and the 
bear prowled among the woods, leaving, as it would 
appear, but small probability of there being a very 
dense human population in those early times. 

And this leads us to the enquiry, where is man, the 
lord of the earth, and of the other animals? Have 
we no mention of the human inhabitants of Britain, 
among the remains which tell us of the other species 



CH. I.] INTRODUCTION. 6 

of animal life by which it was peopled? The monu- 
ments which the first inliabitants of this country have 
left behind them are few indeed, but cast in a gigantic 
moidd. The names of Stonehenge, Avebury, and the 
Rollright stones*, are familiar to the reader. Structures 
of enormous size, and consisting of the most monstrous 
stones, to move which no inconsiderable knowledge 
of mechanics would be required, they nevertheless tell 
us no more than the fact of their erection. It would 
be idle to attempt to prove that they are the works of 
men, for the form of their construction plainly shews 
them to have been erected by design; but whether 
they were built as tombs, as palaces, as temples, or as 
fortresses, it is useless to conjecture. They appear 
to be the very oldest memorials of the existing human 
race : they have stood nearly two thousand years with 
evidently no greater alteration of their form or 
appearance than the silent crumbling of surface which 
a northern winter is calculated to produce; they are 
more massive than the temples of Agrigentum, or the 
Cyclopian walls of Argos and Mycenae : they are of a 
construction ruder than that of the Pyramids of 
Egypt: and whether they were erected within the 
period of authentic history, which commences seven 
hundred years before Christ, or many thousand years 
earlier, it is impossible to discover, and useless to 
conjecture. The slight notices of these ancient 
fabrics, which occur in the classic authors, will be 
exhibited in chronological order in the Appendix to 
this work'. 

Setting aside therefore the architectural remains 

" For accounts of ihese the reader is rcfciTed to works written 
expressly on the subject. The Tolhncn, and Logan stones found 
principally in Cornwall, are evidently natural productions. 



6 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.I. 

which are still found in Britain, we may enquire whether 
any other relics have been recovered from the soil likely 
to throw light on the history of the tribes which once 
inhabited our country : but the result of this investiga- 
tion is alike meagre and unavailing. Warlike weapons 
and vessels of domestic use have been continually dis- 
interred by the plough and the spade, but the tale 
which they tell has little to interest us. The weapons 
which have been found in Britain are swords, spear and 
arrow heads and targets, and it is probable that most 
of these are of a date posterior to the invasion of Julius 
Caesar. Whatever may be their antiquity, the inform- 
ation which they furnish is but scanty : such weapons 
have been common to all nations, and denote habits of 
life which at one time or another have prevailed in 
every known country of the world. The same result will 
attend any enquiries that may be made into the domestic 
life of the early inhabitants of Britain, as evinced by 
existing specimens of rude and ill-shaped pottery. 

Nor does the science of Numismatics furnish any 
aid to the knowledge of our earliest tribes : nothing 
has been discovered that can be assigned to an earlier 
date than the first century of our sera; so that in the 
absence of monumental documents, we are of necessity 
driven to look for our information in the written 
records which have come down to us from the Greeks and 
Romans; for, as will hereafter be shewn, the traditions 
of the Britons themselves, which in the reign of 
Henry 11 were translated by Geofii'ey of Monmouth 
out of the British tongue, however for the latter portion 
of the history they may contain the germs of truth, are 
for the period antecedent to Csesar's invasion utterly 
unworthy of credit and almost of notice. 

It is a theory generally received amongst the learned. 



B. C. 450 — 340.] HERODOTUS ARISTOTLE. 7 

that the western parts of Europe were at an early 
period inhabited by a race of people known by the 
name of Celts. The earliest notice of these people 
occurs in the pages of the Greek historian Herodotus, 
who wrote about the yeai- B. C. 450. " The river Ister," 
says this writer^, '' flows through the whole length of 
Europe, beginning from the Celtae, who are the furthest 
people in Europe after the Cynetse towards the setting- 
sun." In another place the same author says <^, '' The 
river Ister, beginning from the Celtte and the city of 
Pyrene, flows through the whole of Europe : for the 
Celt£e are beyond the pillars of Hercules, and they 
border on the Cynesians, who are the furthest people in 
Europe towards the west." 

A third extract from the same writer is interesting 
and valuable, because it makes the first mention that 
we find in any book now extant of these islands ^ 

" Of the western extremities of Europe I cannot 
speak with certainty j for I do not admit that there is 
any river called Eridanus by the barbarians, emptying 
itself into the sea towards the north, where they say 
amber comes from : nor do I know any thing of the 
Cassiterides [tin-islands'], from which we get tin. For 
tlie name Eridanus, which is Grecian, not barbarian, 
and derives its origin from some poet, proves what 
I say; and, on the other hand, I have never been able 
with all my pains to meet with any one who could tell 
me from his own knowledge, that the farther parts of 
Europe are sea." 

The next writer who mentions the British isles is 
Aristotle, who wrote about 340 years before Christ. 
His words arc these: " Beyond the pillars of Hercules 
is the ocean which flows round the earth. In it are 

" Herod. Hii^t. iv. 49. ' Ibid. ii. 33. ■' Ibid iii 115. 



8 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. I. 

two islands, and those very large, called Britannic, 
Albion and lerne, which are larger than those I before 
mentioned, and lie beyond the Celts. There are also 
two others not less than these, Taprobane [Ceylon], 
which is beyond the Indians, and lies obliquely towards 
the mainland, and Phebol, situated over against the 
Arabian gulf; besides several small islands, near the 
Britannic isles and Iberia, and encircling as with a 
coronet the earth, which, as we have already said, is an 
island^." 

From this passage, we perceive that Aristotle, who 
was the preceptor of Alexander the great, had a correct 
knowledge of the position and general nature of the 
British isles, as far as it was possible for a writer of 
that age to obtain it. The only way to Britain was by 
sea through the straits between Gibraltar and Tangier, 
called at that time the pillars of Hercules: and the 
intervening countries, namely, Spain, Gaul, and perhaps 
part of Germany, he supposes to have been occupied 
by the Celts. 

After Aristotle, another interval of 180 years brings 
us to the time of Polybius, who wrote about B. C. 160. 
He has the following passage': " Perhaps some 
persons will enquire, why, having spoken so fully of 
places in Libya [Africa] and Iberia [Spain], we have 
not said more of the outlet at the pillars of Hercules, 
nor of the sea beyond, and of the things peculiar to 
those parts, nor of the Britannic isles, and the mode of 
preparing tin, nor moreover of the gold and silver 
mines of Iberia, concerning which writers have dis- 
coursed so largely and so contradictorily." 

A fourth extract, from a work of doubtful authen- 

« De Mundo, §.3. ' Tolyb. Hist. iii. 57. 



B.C. 560 — 160.] ORPHEUS — POL'i'BlUS. 9 

ticity, still remains. The writer passes for the poet 
Orpheus, who in the age preceding the Trojan war is 
said to have accompanied the Argonauts on their ex- 
pedition to fetch the golden fleece from Colchis. If 
the poem which goes under his name and treats of this 
famous expedition were genuine, the value of the 
allusion therein found to the island of Ireland more than 
1200 years before the Christian era would be incalcu- 
lable : but that this poem is a forgery, has long been 
admitted on all hands. Some have ascribed the 
fabrication to Onomacritus, who lived B. C. 560, and 
others to a writer of a still later period. In any case, 
however, the passage in question conveys one of the 
earliest notices which have come to us of the British 
isles, and as such we give it to the reader in a transla- 
tion as literal as the difference of idiom will allow. 

[The ship Argo is supposed to speak to the Minyae, 
i. e. the Argonauts.] 

For now to sad and bitter suffering I 

Shall be consigned, if near lernian isles I come. 

Thus having said she held her tongue; forthwith the soul 

Of the Minyae was densely clouded: 

But much they pondered in their thoughtful breasts 

How they might slay and cast as food for fishes 

Medea, ill-starred bride, and so appease the fury. 

Had not the son of ^Eson quick perceived it, 

And by entreaty calm'd the rage of each. 

But when they heard the chiefs voice uttering truth, 

Soon on their scats they sat, and caught their oars, 

And knowingly Ancfcus held the helm. 

And passed th' lernian isle, whilst in the rear 

Came dashing on the darkling roaring storm. 

These passages, which contain all the allusions made 
by the classic writers to the British isles previously to 



10 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.I. 

the time of Csesar, are sufficient to shew that the 
existence of those islands was no secret to the Greeks, 
and it is not difficult to discover through what channel 
they obtained their information. It is evident from the 
foregoing extracts that the very little which the Greeks 
knew aboutBritain came through the straits of Gibraltar; 
and it is equally clear, that the islands from which they 
obtained tin were supposed to lie in that direction. 
The exertions of that indefatigable historian Herodotus 
failed to discover where those islands actually were 
situated: he had never met with a person who had 
visited them. But it seems there was a substantial 
reason for concealing these islands from the knowledge 
of the Greeks: what this reason was, we learn from 
Strabo, who wrote four hundred years after Herodotus. 
That geographer gives us the following narrative ^. 

*' The Cassiterides [tin islands] are ten in number, 
and lie near each other in the ocean, towards the north 
from the haven of the Artabri. One of them is desert, 
but the others are inhabited by men in black cloaks, 
clad in tunics reaching to the feet, and girt about the 
breast; walking with staves, and bearded like goats. 
They subsist by their cattle, leading for the most part 
a wandering life : and having metals of tin and lead, 
these and skins they barter with the merchants for 
earthenware and salt and brazen vessels. Formerly 
the Phoenicians alone carried on this traffic from Gadeira 
[Cadiz], concealing the passage from eveiy one: and 
when the Romans followed a certain ship-master, that 
they also might find the mart, the ship-master from 
jealousy purposely ran his vessel upon a shoal, and 
leading on those who followed him into the same fatal 
disaster, he himself escaped on a fragment of his 
" Hist. V. 10. 



CH.I.] COMMERCIAL JEALOUSY OF THE PHCENICIANS. 11 

vessel, and received from the state the vakie of the 
cargo which he had lost. But the Romans, neverthe- 
less, after repeated efforts, discovered the passage ; and 
when Publius Crassus', passing over thither, discovered 
that the metals were obtained at a little depth, and that 
the people were undisturbed by war, and beginning 
to turn their attention to maritime affairs, he pointed 
out this passage to all who were willing to attempt it, 
though it was longer than the passage to Britain." 

Thus it was the mercantile policy of the Phoenicians 
which kept the Greeks in comparative ignorance of 
the Cassiterides or tin islands, until the adventure 
related to Strabo, and which seems to have happened 
in the age immediately preceding that of Julius Ceesar, 
laid open the trade to the adventurous Romans. It is 
well known that the Phoenicians, as well as their colony 
Carthage, made distant voyages at a very early period, 
when the Greeks and other mediterranean nations 
ventured only to pass timidly from one island to 
another. So far had they carried their spirit of com- 
mercial enterprise, that they had actually sailed round 
Africa several centuries before the Christian era. Of 
this fact we may be certain ; for they reported at home 
that they had seen the sun on their right hand the 
whole of their journey from the Red Sea to the pillars 
of Hercules; and this statement, which Herodotus at 
once set down as an impossibility, and therefore a proof 
of their falsehood, is to us the most undeniable criterion 
of their sincerity. 

That the Phoenicians extended their voyages as far 
as Britain, is by no means improbable in itself, from 
the enterprising character of that people, even without 
the positive proof of the fact which the narrative of 

' Oflhis iiulividiiiil notliing I'livthcr is known. 



12 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. 1. 

Strabo furnishes. It is not however certain that the 
Greeks considered the Cassiterides to be the same 
island as Britain: indeed it would appear that the 
Scilly islands, and perhaps the headlands of Cornwall 
and Devonshire, which the foreign merchants took for 
islands, were what passed imder that denomination. 
There was at one time an opinion among the learned, 
that an Atlantic continent existed not far from the 
pillars of Hercules, which has since been buried in the 
ocean. This is however highly improbable; from the 
time which must elapse before such a continent could 
have been entirely swallowed up, it is evident that it could 
not have existed within the period of time to which our 
existing histories belong. We may therefore with 
greater probability infer, that this notion was made up 
of reports which Phcenician travellers made at home 
of the distant islands and countries which they had 
discovered in their voyages beyond the straits. Teneriffe 
and Madeira may possibly have been known to this 
daring nation of sailers; and Thule, the celebrated ne 
plus ultra of the poets, seems to have been situated 
somewhere beyond the British islands. 

But the most certain indication of the trade carried 
on by the Phoenicians in Britain is the fact, that tin 
was an article in daily use among the Greeks even as 
early as the days of Homer. Tin and brass, by which 
was meant copper, were articles supplied to the neigh- 
bouring nations by the Sidonians; and it is difficult to 
imagine where their large supplies of these metals, 
particularly the former, could have been obtained, 
unless it be admitted that they procured them in 
Cornwall and the Scilly islands, where they have always 
been so abundant. 

Lead also is mentioned by Strabo in the passage 



CH. I.] PHCENICIANS MINES. 13 

before quoted, as one of the exports of Britain. Now 
this metal is at present found principally in Derbyshire, 
Cardiganshire, Denbighshire, Yorkshire, and North- 
umberland, and it is hardly probable that the Phoe- 
nicians, who had not extended their dominions more than 
100 miles from the sea at home in Asia, should have 
travelled twice or even three times that distance up the 
country in Britain. We may be content to believe, 
that the south-western parts of Britain were those 
mostly, if not solely, frequented by the Phoenician 
merchants; and it has been noticed by writers, that 
many names of phices on the Cornish coast still bear 
traces of a Phoenician or Oriental etymology'', but the 
great distance which separated these northern regions 
from their native Phoenicia, makes it highly improbable 
that so many persons of that state settled in Britain as 
to have much influence either over the language or 
over the manners of the ancient inhabitants. 

'' Bochart, Geog. Sacra, quoted hy Thackeray, vol. i. p. 9. I cannot 
forbear, whilst on the subject of etjmologj^ to express my utter 
disbelief of the fancies into which some modern writers have suffered 
themselves to be led. Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the priests of 
Gaul, says, that they were called liy the people Saronides. Mr. Gilbert, 
in his Celtic Researches, says that, this word is British, being a com- 
pound of Ser stars, and honydd " one who points out." This is 
reasonable in comparison with some of the etymologies in which Celtic 
scholars have indulged. It is not consistent with the plan of this 
work to enter upon such topics: otherwise much might be said on 
the analogy between present European languages and those which 
existed in Europe eighteen hundred years ago. There is also some 
curious infonnalion to be gleaned from the accounts which have been 
written from time to time on the opening of ancient tombs and 
barrows: but it has not yet been clearly discovered to which of the 
nations that have inhabited Britain these mounds are to be ascribed ; 
I cannot therefore admit such evidence among the authentic written 
or monumental documents which it is the purpose of these volumes 
to supply. 



14 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II. 



CHAP. 11. 



C^SAR S INVASION OF BRITAIN IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST 
BEFORE CHRIST 55. 



The conquests of Julius Csesar in Gaul were dictated 
by no animosity towards the natives of that half civilized 
country : the victorious general was merely carving out 
on the naked bodies of his brave but astonished enemies, 
'^ material for the honours v/hich awaited him on his 
return to Rome. His ambition, whetted by the 
rivalry of Pompey, could not find a subject to exhaust 
itself upon in the peninsula of Italy. The countries 
surrounding the MediteiTanean had already been 
appropriated as fields of triumph by divers enterprising 
leaders, or had fallen into the tranquil condition of 
Roman provinces. Germany and Gaul alone remained ; 
and the former of these two countries would be most 
readily attacked, when the latter should have been 
subdued; for lofty mountains and brave mountaineers 
intervened between the Itahan provinces and the fertile 
plains of Bavaria, Hungary, and Austria; whilst on the 
other hand, the easy voyage from Genoa to Marseilles 
had already introduced Roman civilization and Roman 
influence into the heart of independent Gaul. It was 
but ready foresight on the part of Julius Caesar, which 
pointed out the apparently obvious scheme of annexing 



B.C. 55.] Cesar's invasion. 15 

all Gaul to the Roman empire. He was aware of the 
existence of a northern ocean lying beyond that country, 
which would prevent its hardy natives from receiving- 
such unhmited reinforcements, as the vast continent 
which lay behind the Germans would furnish to resist 
his arms. It was therefore in a spirit of practicable 
though bold enterprise, that in the year before Christ 
58, Julius Caesar began that career of conquest which 
led to his elevation above all his contemporary citizens, 
and would have raised him, if he had so pleased, above 
the laws themselves. Eight years of incessant warfare 
hardly sufficed to subdue the untractable spirit of the 
Gauls. The fiercest tribes were those which lay in the 
north-east of the country, who passed under the general 
nameof Belgse orBelgians, and extended from the Rhine 
to the Seine. These people caused Csesar more trouble 
than all the other Gallic tribes ; and when he atlast reached 
the ocean which washes their shores, he could see from 
the country extending between the modern towns of 
Dunkirk and Dieppe, the outlines of that Britain which 
up to his time had continued to be the Terra incognita 
of the ancients. The sight of Britain from the French 
coast thrills to the heart of the modern native of this 
insular empire; and even the foreigner, who can travel 
from Paris to St. Petersburg or Constantinople without 
having to cross a mile's breadth of salt water, looks with 
interest upon the white cliffs of Britain, cut oft' as they 
are from the rest of civilized Europe by a mighty 
natural boundary, and sometimes lost to the sight in 
the fogs and tempests which are the danger and the 
protection of our island. It may then be easily con- 
ceived with what expansive feelings Julius Caesar would 
look upon this new found land, opening for the first 
time to his eyes, and perhaps also to tlie eyes of all 



16 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II. 

who were then in his company. This was that land, of 
which poetry said so much and history so httle : this 
was known to Csesar as the fertile source from which 
the Phoenicians, the greatest commercial nation of 
antiquity, drew their chief stores of the most useful 
metals; and the bold imagination of the first Roman 
conqueror who ev.pr saw this country, could hardly fail 
to anticipate the greatest advantages to himself and his 
commonwealth if he could subdue it by his arms. 
Caesar could not be at a loss for information from living 
witnesses on the subject of Britain; for the Veneti, who 
were some of his most powerful enemies, were a mari- 
time people, possessing many ships, in which they 
crossed over to the island'', and individuals among them 
were no doubt ready to assist Caesar, even though it 
was against their own allies. For a war with the Veneti 
was one of the last difficulties which Caesar had to 
encounter, the year before he crossed over into Britain, 
and the preparations which they made against him were 
of a serious and formidable nature, as we find them 
recorded in the words of the generar himself; " They 
fortified their towns, brought in corn from the neigh- 
bouring countries, and collected as many vessels as 
they were able at Venetia, where it was likely that 
Caesar would first come to an engagement. They 
invited the Osismii, Lexovii, Nannetes, Ambiliati, 
Morini, Diablintes, and Menapii " to aid them in the 
war, and sent over for assistance from Britain, which 
lies on the other side of the ocean over against them." 
This confederacy however failed, as all others had 
failed, before the military genius of the general and the 
superior discipline and accoutrements of his soldiers. 

" Ceesar. de B. G. iii. 8. '' Ibid. iii. 9. 

• See the map and index for the modern names of these tribes. 



B.C. 55.] Cesar's INVASION. 17 

The ensuing year began with a campaign against the 
Germans, but the campaign produced Httle decisive, 
Caesar remained only eighteen days on tlie eastern 
bank of the Rhine, and on his return commenced the 
series of movements whicli T sliall now proceed to relate 
in his own words ^ 

" The summer was now nearly over, but though 
from the northerly position of Gaul the winters are 
early in their approach, yet Caesar determined to pass 
over into Britain; for he had noticed that in all his 
wars in Gaul, his enemies obtained assistance against 
him from that island, and though the season of the 
year was unfavourable for military proceedings, yet he 
thought it would be of service if he only visited the 
island, to reconnoitre the country, the character of its 
inhabitants, its ports and the most convenient places 
for landing an army. All these points had until then 
been almost entirely unknown even to the Gauls them- 
selves; for no one but merchants ever went there, and 
even these knew nothing of it beyond the coast, and 
those parts which lie over against Gaul. With this 
view Csesar assembled together merchants from all 
quarters, but with no benefit: for he could not learn 
from them either the extent of the island, the nature 
and number of nations which inhabited it, their military 
laws or civil institutions: nor could he ascertain the 
harbours in which a fleet of ships could best come to 
anchor. Before therefore he ran any risk, he sent 
Caius Volusenus in a war-galley to ascertain these 
particulars, giving him orders, as soon as he had made 
the necessary inquiries, to return to him with all possible 
speed. At the same time he led all his troops into the 

^ Cees. de B. C. iv. 20—28. The summer of iho year B. C. 55. 
is meant here. 



18 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II, 

coiinUy of the MoriDi, because the passage from thence 
into Britain was the shortest. To this point he ordered 
his fleet, which had been engaged the preceding 
summer against the Veneti, to converge from all 
quarters. 

" Meanwhile news of his intentions was conveyed by 
the merchants to Britain, and several of the states, 
into which that island is divided, sent ambassadors to 
give hostages, and to submit to the government of the 
Roman people. Csesar gave audience to these, and 
sent them home with liberal promises, and exhortations 
to adhere to the line of conduct which they had chosen. 
He sent also in their company Commius, whom he had 
made king over the vanquished Atrebates, a man whose 
integrity of character, talents, fidelity, and influence 
among the people in those parts, seemed likely to be 
of service to him. His instructions were to visit as 
many states as he could, to exhort them to enter into 
allegiance with the Roman people, and to assure them 
of his speedy arrival. 

" Volusenus his emissary, meanwhile reconnoitered 
the country as far as he was able from on board his 
ship; for he did not venture to land and mix with the 
barbarians; and on the fifth day he returned to Csesar, 
and reported what he had seen. 

" Whilst Csesar was delaying in these parts to get 
together his vessels, ambassadors came from most of 
the towns of the Morini, to make excuses for their 
former conduct; and, whilst they asked forgiveness for 
acts which a barbarous nation, ignorant of the Roman 
customs, had committed against the Roman people, 
they promised in future to do every thing that he 
should command them. This appeared to Csesar to 
be a most fortunate occurrence ; for he had no wish to 



B. c. 5d.] Cesar's invasion. 19 

leave an enemy behind him, and the season of tlie year 
would not allow of his prosecuting the war against 
them, nor did he indeed think it desirable to suffer 
such a trifling matter to interfere with his design against 
Britain: wherefore he demanded of them a large 
number of hostages, and on their arrival received the 
whole nation into alliance. He then collected about 
eighty vessels of burden, which he considered quite 
enough to transport two legions; and distributed all his 
galleys among the qusestor, his lieutenants and prae- 
fects. Besides these, there were eighteen vessels of 
burden about eight miles ofi", which had been prevented 
by the wind from entering the harbour: these he 
distributed among the cavalry. The rest of his army 
he committed to Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius 
Aurunculeius Cotta, his lieutenants, with orders to march 
against the Menapii, and those towns of the Morini", 
which had not sent ambassadors to him. Lastly, he 
ordered Publius Sulpicius Rufus, his lieutenant, to 
occupy the harbour with such a force as he thought 
sufficient for the purpose. 

" When every thing was settled, he took the oppor- 
tunity of fine weather for putting to sea, and weighed 
anchor about the third watch of the night ^, having 
previously sent on his cavalry to take ship at the distant 
post aforesaid, and to sail after him. This, however, 
was not done so promptly as he had expected, so that 
he himself with the advanced squadron arrived about 
ten o'clock on the coast of Britain, where he beheld all 
the hills covered with bodies of armed men. The 
nature of the country was such, and the hills by which 
the sea was bounded were so low, that the inhabitants, 

* See Index and Map for the modern names of these tribes. 
' Between tweh-e and three in the morning, 
c 2 



20 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II. 

standing on high ground, could hurl their weapons 
down upon the shore. This place therefore did not 
furnish a good landing, and Caesar remained at anchor 
till three o'clock in the afternoon, waiting for his other 
vessels. Meanwhile he called together his lieutenants 
and tribunes of the soldiers, and told them what in- 
formation he had procured from Volusenus, and what 
mode of conduct he wished them to observe, warning 
them how necessary it was for them in battle, and 
especially in a naval battle, which allowed such sudden 
vicissitudes, to obey his orders with zeal and punctuality. 
He then dismissed them, and, taking advantage of a 
favourable wind and tide, gave the signal to weigh 
anchor, and running on about seven miles farther, 
brought his ships up on an open and level strand. 

" But the barbarians had perceived this manoeuvre 
of the Romans, and sent on their cavalry and war- 
chariots, of which they make great use in battle : the 
rest of their army also soon followed, and our troops 
were prevented from landing. This caused us great 
embarrassment, for the ships from their size required 
deep water, and the soldiers, strangers to the coast, 
having their hands and bodies oppressed with the load 
of their weapons and armour, had to leap out of the 
vessels, make good their footing among the waves, and 
fight with the enemy at the same time ; whereas the 
Britons stood on dry ground, or, at all events, without 
advancing far into the water, enjoyed the free use of 
their limbs, and being well acquainted with the place, 
hurled their javelins at us boldly, and frightened our 
horses unused to such a scene. Our men were daunted, 
for they had never before fought in this way; nor did 
they shew the same alacrity and zeal, which in all their 
battles by land they had hitherto displayed. 



B.C. 55.] BRAVERY OF THE BRITONS. 21 

" When Csesar saw this, he chrected his long vessels, 
which were less well known to the barbarians, and better 
adapted for manoeuvering, to draw off from the vessels 
of burden, and row round upon the flanks of the enemy, 
and so check and repel them by stones, arrows, and 
other missiles from a distance. This movement did 
good service to our men ; for the shape of these vessels, 
the motion of the oars, and the strange natin-e of the 
engines for throwing missiles, astonished the barbarians, 
and they withdrew a little. Our men still hesitated, 
principally on account of the depth of the water, when 
the standard-bearer of the tenth legion, invoking the 
gods that his legion might succeed in the attempt, ex- 
claimed, " In with you, fellow-soldiers, unless you 
mean to abandon your eagle to the enemy : I will do 
my duty to the state, and to my general." Having 
said this, he jumped out of the vessel, and bore the 
standard in the direction of the enemy. Upon which, 
our men, mutually exhorting one another not to suffer 
such a disgrace, jumped all of them out of the vessel. 
The men in the other ships followed their example, 
and all together rushed upon the enemy. 

"Both sides fought hard: but our men being unable 
to keep their ranks, or to stand firm and follow their 
standards, particularly as they ranged themselves indis- 
criminately, on leaving their vessels, under the first 
ensign they saw, toiled much, and were in great con- 
fusion. But the enemy, who knew the depth of the 
water, standing upon the shore, watched us as we left 
the ships individually, urged their horses against us, 
and annoyed us much. 8ome of our small pai'ties 
they surrounded in numbers, whilst others of them on 
the flank discharged their weapons against our main 
body. Caesar, seeing this, ordered the ships' boats 



22 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH.II. 

and small reconnoitering barks to be filled with soldiers, 
and sent them to aid those whom he saw in distress. 
As soon as our men set foot on dry gTOund, all the 
others followed them, and making a general attack 
upon the enemy, put them to flight, but were unable 
to follow them far, because the cavalry had been thrown 
out of their course, and were unable to make the island. 
But for this circumstance, Csesar would have met with 
his usual good fortune. 

" The defeated enemy no sooner halted after their flight, 
than they at once sent ambassadors to Caesar to make 
peace, olFering to give hostages, and to obey his orders. 
Together with these ambassadors, came Commius the 
Atrebatian, who, as we have already stated, had been 
sent by C^sar into Britain to negociate. He had landed 
on the island, and was in the capacity of ambassador de- 
livering the orders of his commander, when the natives 
seized him, and put him in chains ; but now, after the 
battle, they sent him back to solicit peace, throwing all 
the blame of the matter upon the multitude, and begging 
C^sar to forgive their imprudence. Ceesar complained 
that though they had formerly, without being asked, 
sent ambassadors to him on the continent to solicit 
peace, they now made war against him for no provoca- 
tion: their imprudence however he forgave, and de- 
manded hostages of them. Upon which they gave 
him some hostages on the spot, and said that in a few 
days they would give him the others, whom they had 
to fetch from a distance. Meanwhile they sent their 
men away to their homes, whilst the chiefs came 
together from all quarters, and commended themselves 
and their several states to Csesar's protection. 

" Peace being thus confirmed, on the fourth day after 
his arrival in Britain, the eighteen ships, which we 



ii.C. 55.] THE BRITONS SUBMIT. 23 

before mentioned, carrying the cavalry, put to sea from 
the upper port with a gentle wind. They had already 
neared the coast of Britain, and were seen from the 
camp, when there suddenly arose so violent a storm, 
that they were unable to maintain their course. Some 
of them were driven back to the port, which they had 
quitted; others v/ere cast upon the lower part of the 
island, off towards the west, with great danger of being 
lost: here however they came to an anchor, but finding 
that the ships filled with water, and were unable to ride, 
they were obliged during the stormy night which ensued 
to weigh again, and make for the mainland. 

" The same night was the full moon, which causes 
the tides of the ocean to be at their highest : but our 
men were unacquainted with this fact. Thus at one 
and the same time the long vessels, which Ctesar had 
used for transporting his army, and which he had 
drawn up on dry ground, were filled with the tide ; and 
the vessels of burden, which had been secured at 
anchor, were shattered by the storm, nor had we power 
to minister to their wants, or to help them in their 
distress. Several of the ships were broken to pieces: 
the others, having lost their ropes, anchors, and other 
tackle, were rendered unserviceable; and, as the inevi- 
table result, the whole army was in great dismay : for 
they had no other ships to carry them back, and there 
was nothing at hand with which the old ones could be 
repaired; besides which, as all expected that they 
should winter in Gaul, they had not provided any corn 
for passing the winter here. 

" As soon as this state of things was known, the 
British chiefs, who after the battle had come together 
to receive Caesar's orders, held a council among them- 
selves, and seeing that the Romans had neither cavalry, 



24 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II. 

ships, nor provisions, aDcl only a small army and a thin 
camp, for Csesar had brought over his legions without 
the usual baggage and mateiial, determined to renew 
the war, and by cutting off our communication and 
provisions, to await the approach of winter; and they 
felt confident, that if they could defeat them, or prevent 
them from returning, no foreign enemy Vi'ould ever again 
set foot in Britain. 

" Wherefore they again held secret communication 
together, and began gradually to leave the camp, and 
to assemble their men together privately from the 
fields. But Csesar, though he as yet did not notice 
these proceedings, nevertheless judging by the calamity 
which had happened to the ships, and because they 
were slow to bring in the rest of the hostages, had 
suspicions of what was about to happen. He therefore 
made provision for every contingency: for he daily 
procured fresh grain from the country, and destroying 
the ships which had suffered most, used the brass and 
other materials to refit the others, and whatever else 
was wanted for these purposes, he sent for from the 
mainland. Thus, with tlie zealous cooperation of the 
soldiers, he managed to refit all his ships with the 
loss of twelve only. 

" Whilst these things were going on, it happened 
that the seventh legion had been sent out, according 
to custom, to forage. There was at that time no sus- 
picion of the war being renewed, for some of the 
inhabitants were remaining in their fields, and others 
were coming and going in the camp, when on a sudden, 
the guard at the gate reported that they saw a cloud 
of dust, greater than was usual, in the same direction 
as the legion had departed. Caesar suspecting the 
truth, that the barbarians had taken some new counsel. 



B.C. 55.] THE WAR IS RENEWED. 25 

proceeded towards the spot with the cohorts on guard, 
giving- orders tliat these should be replaced by two 
others, and that all the rest should arm and follow him 
immediately. Allien he was at some distance from the 
camp, he saw his men hard pressed by the enemy, and 
v»'ith great difficulty maintaining their ground, whilst 
the legion was crowded together, and weapons pouring 
in on them from all sides. For every other part of 
the country had been stripped of its corn, and as this 
part alone remained untouched, the barbarians, suspect- 
ing that our men would come in this direction, had 
lain in wait for them by night in the woods ; and when 
they had cast aside their arms, and separated to mow 
the corn, the Britons suddenly attacked them, slew 
some lew of them, and created great confusion among 
the others, before they could succeed in forming their 
ranks : at the same time they had entirely surrounded 
them with their cavalry and chariots. 

" The mode of fighting from these war-chariots is 
peculiar: first they gallop about in all directions, 
throwing their javelins, and thus by the alarm which 
the horses create and the noise oi the wheels they in 
general confuse the ranks of their enemies : after which, 
when they have got in among the troops of cavalry, 
they leap down from their chariots and fight on 
loot. The drivers meanwhile gradually draw off from 
the battle, and place the chariots in such a manner, 
that if the waniors are pressed hard by tlie number of 
the enemy, they may withdraw without difficulty to their 
own army. Thus in battle they unite tlie rapid move- 
ments of cavalry and the stability of infantry, and by 
their daily habit of exercise they have acquired such 
skill, that in steep and precipitous ground they will 
stop their horses at speed, turn and guide them at 



26 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.II. 

will, run along the pole, stand on the yoke, and run 
back again at full speed into the chariot,, 

" Thus our soldiers were confounded at this extraor- 
dinary way of fighting, when Csesar most opportunely 
came to their assistance. At his coming the enemy 
ceased to attack, and our troops recovered from their 
panic. Upon which, Csesar deeming it inexpedient to 
provoke the enemy to battle, remained v/here he was, 
and after a short interval, led back his legions to their 
camp. Whilst this was passing, and our men had 
enough to occupy them, those who had halted in 
the fields, took their departure. For several days in 
succession there were violent storms, which both 
detained our men in the camp, and prevented the 
enemy from attacking them. Meanwhile the barbarians 
sent messengers in every quarter with information of 
the scanty number of our soldiers, and enlarging on 
the rich booty which would fall to them, and the 
certainty of future liberty, if they could expel the 
Romans from the camp. By these means they as- 
sembled a large army of foot and horse, and advanced 
to attack the camp. 

" Csesar saw that, if the enemy should be repelled, 
they would by their rapidity soon be out of danger, as 
on former occasions; nevertheless, having got about 
thirty cavalry, whom Commius the Atrebatian, before 
mentioned, had brought over with him, he drew up his 
legions in line before the camp. The battle began, 
and the enemy, unable for any length of time to sustain 
the attack of our men, turned their backs and fled. 
The Romans pursued them as far as their speed and 
strength would allow, and slew several of them : after 
which they destroyed and burnt every thing around, 
and withdrew to their camp. 



B.C. 55.] THE BRITONS AGAIN SUBMIT, CiESAR DEPARTS. 27 

" The same day the enemy sent ambassadors to Caesar 
to ask peace. Csesar doubled the number of hostages 
that he before had imposed on them, and told them to 
bnng them over to him on the continent: for the 
equinox was now at hand, and as his ships were not 
sound, he did not like to expose himself to danger 
from storms on his return. He therefore availed 
himself of the first favourable weather, and putting- to 
sea a little after midnight with all his ships, reached the 
mainland in safety: but two of the vessels of burden 
were unable to make the same port as the others, and 
came to land a short distance lower down. 

" About three hundred soldiers were landed out of 
these vessels, and as they were on their way to the 
camp, the Morini, whom Caesar on his departure for 
Britain had left in tranquillity, excited by the prospect 
of plunder, came upon them with a small number of men 
at first, and told them, if they wished to preserve their 
lives, to lay down their arms. But they, forming a 
circle, began to defend themselves, when at the first 
noise about five thousand men came together. News 
of this being brought to Caesar, he sent all his cavalry 
from the camp to help them. Meanwhile our soldiers 
sustained the attack of the enemy, and fought bravely 
for more than four hours. They lost but few of their 
own men, and slew many of the barbarians. When 
the cavalry came in sight, the enemy fled, throwing 
away their arms, and a large number of them were slain. 
" The next day Caesar sent Titus Labienus his lieu- 
tenant, with the legions he had brought from Britain, 
against the Morini, who had committed this act of 
rebellion. But the marshes, to which they had fled 
for refuge the year before, were now dried up, and so 
having no place to retreat to, they almost all fell into 



28 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. II. 

the hands of Labienus. But the lieutenants, Quintus 
Titurius and Lucius Cotta, who had led the legions 
into the territory of the Menapii, devastated the whole 
country, cut the corn, and burnt the houses, for the 
Menapii themselves had fled to the fastnesses of the 
woods. They then rejoined Caesar, who fixed all his 
legions for the winter in Belgium. Only two of the 
British states sent hostages to him here; the rest 
neglected to do so. The senate being informed of 
these exploits by a letter from Caesar, decreed public 
thanksgivings for the space of twenty days." 



B.C. 54.] Cesar's second invasion. 29 



CHAP. III. 



C/F.SAB S SECOND INVASION. 



The winter of the year Before Christ 55 was spent 
in inactivity, and the Britons perhaps supposed that 
Ceesar had abandoned his attempts on their island. 
But the intentions of that general had received no 
change. He had hardly returned from Britain, before 
he hastened to Italy to look after the political interests 
of himself and his party; but he left instructions to 
make every possible preparation for repeating his 
invasion of Britain in the spring. " Before his departure 
for Italy," (we again follow his own narrative,) ''he com- 
manded his lieutenants, who were left in charge of the 
legions, to occupy the winter in building as many new 
vessels as possible, and refitting the old ones. At the 
same time he gave them instructions as to their form 
and make. To insure rapidity in loading, and greater 
facility of drawing them ashore, they were to be con- 
structed somewhat lower than those which we use in 
our own seas*, and the more so, inasmuch as he had 
noticed that on account of the frequent changes of the 
tide, the waves were not of the same magnitude as with 
us. On the other hand, for tlie convenience of trans- 
porting a large cai'go and carrying horses, he ordered 

* The Mediterranean sea witli its various bays and gulfs. 



30 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.III. 

them to be made wider than is usual elsewhere. All 
these vessels were to be impelled by oars, and for that 
purpose it is desirable that they should be low. He 
next gave orders to import from Spain all the necessary 
articles for fitting out the fleet: and when he had 
attended all the meetings and settled affairs in Gallia 
Citerior, he set out for Illyricum, because he had 
received information that the Pirustss were invading 
and devastating the neighbouring districts of the 
Roman province. On his arrival, he imposed on the 
states a levy of soldiers, and ordered these to meet at a 
certain place. The Pirustee, hearing this, sent am- 
bassadors to inform liim that those acts of aggression 
had taken place without any public authority, and that 
they were ready to give him any satisfaction in their 
power for the injury which had been committed. 
Csesar, having heard what they had to say, required of 
them to give hostages, and to bring them on a certain 
day, failing to do which tliey would expose themselves 
to his immediate vengeance. The hostages were 
brought punctually on the day appointed, and Caesar 
then sent arbitrators to the diff'erent states to estimate 
the damage, and fix the compensation which they were 
to make. 

" After these meetings were ended, Ceesar returned 
into Gallia Citerior, and from thence set off to join the 
army. Here he went round to all their winter-quarters, 
and such had been the exertions of his soldiers, that, 
though in want of almost every thing, they had got 
together about five hundred vessels of the kind we 
before mentioned, together with twenty-eight long 
vessels, and all were so far ready, that in a few days 
they might be launched. He gave due praise both to 
the soldiers and to their officers, and having pointed 



B.C. 54.] CiESAR PREPARES TO LEAVE GAUL. 31 

out what they were to do, told them to meet him at 
Portiis Itius, at which port he had perceived it was 
best to embai'k for Britain, the voyage thither from the 
mainland being about thii'ty miles \ For this purpose 
he left as many soldiers as the service seemed to re- 
quire, and himself with four light legions and eight 
hundred cavalry marched into the territory of the 
Treviri, because these people had neither come to meet 
him at the congress, nor submitted to his authority, and 
it was reported moreover that they were trying to stir 
up the Germans beyond the Rhine to disaffection. 

" This state possesses a larger force of cavalry than 
any other in Gaul, besides numerous infantry, and, as 
we have shewn above, borders on the Rhine. For 
the sovereignty of this state there were two competitors, 
Indutiomarus and Cingetorix, the latter of whom no 
sooner heard of Caesar's arrival with the legions, than 
he appeared in the camp, and offered his services and 
those of his followers to Csesar, promising never to 
desert him: moreover he told him what was passing 
among the Treviri. Indutiomarus, on the other hand, 
began to levy forces both foot and horse, and having 
placed all those, who, on account of their age, could 
not take arms, in the gTeat forest of Ardennes, which 
extends through the middle of the Treviri from the 
river Rhine to the frontiers of the Remi; himseK 
began to turn his attention to war. But some of the 
nobles of that state, induced by their friendship with 
Cingetorix, and alarmed by the arrival of our troops, 
came to Ceesar, and seeing it impossible to make terms 
for the whole commonwealth, began to negociate for 
themselves. Indutiomarus, fearing lest his ti'oops 
should desert him, sent ambassadors to Ciesar with an 

'' About twenty-two miles according to the Knf^lisli standard. 



32 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH.IIl. 

excuse for not leaving his men and waiting in person 
on the general. He pleaded that he wished to keep 
the state to its duty, lest, if all the nobles should leave 
it, the common people might commit some act of 
folly. As things were, the state was in his hands, and 
if Caesar would allow him, he would visit his camp, and 
confide in his honour for the safety both of himself 
and his country. 

"It was evident to Csesar what was the motive of this 
message, and why the plans of Indutiomarus had been 
baffled; yet, as he had no wish to spend the summer 
among the Treviri, and every thing was now ready for 
the British war, he ordered Indutiomarus to wait on 
him with two hundred hostages. These were duly 
brought to him, and amongst them he had particularly 
specified his son and all his nearest kinsmen. Then 
after having consoled Indutiomarus, and exhorted him to 
be faithful to his engagements, he assembled all the 
nobles of the Treviri, and reconciled them one by one 
to Cingetorix, and in doing this he not only felt that 
he was sanctioned by the man's merit, but moreover 
saw how desirable it was that one, whose zeal had 
been so conspicuous towards himself, should stand well 
in the eyes of his countrymen. Indutiomarus, however, 
was much vexed, considering his own influence thereby 
diminished; and his enmity towards us, which before 
was sufficiently evident, was kindled more than ever by 
this new indignity. 

" After these things were settled, Ccesar marched with 
the legions to Portus Itius. There he was informed 
that sixty vessels, which had been built among the 
BelgseS had been driven back by a storm, and returned 
to the port from which they had started: the others 
' Some copies of Caesar's commentaries read "the Meldi" in this place. 



u.c. 54.] CvESah's second invasion. 33 

he found ready for sailing, and with all the necessary 
stores on board. There had also arrived cavalry from 
the whole of Gaul, four thousand in number, and the 
chiefs of all the states: some of these, on whose 
fidelity he could rely, he had determined to leave in 
Gaul, but he resolved to take the others with him as 
hostages j for he feared a disturbance in Gaul, during 
his absence. 

" Amongst others, there was Dumnorix the T^duan, 
of whom we have elsewhere made mention. This man 
in particular Csesar determined to keep near himself, for 
he knew him to be eager for a revolution, ambitious of 
pow-er, having moreover a mind of an elevated cha- 
racter, and possessed of much influence among the Gauls. 
Dumnorix had once said in an assembly of the ^Edui, 
that Caesar had offered him the sovereignty of his own 
country; and this displeased the yEdui, though they 
did not dare send ambassadors to Csesar to make 
objections to the measure, or to deprecate its being 
put in execution. Csesar was informed of this by 
certain persons at whose houses he had been enter- 
tained, and therefore determined to carry this man with 
him to Britain. At first Dumnorix entreated most 
earnestly that he might be allowed to remain in Gaul ; 
partly alleging his inexperience and dread of the sea, 
and partly that he was prevented by religious scruples. 
When he found that his request was rigidly refused, 
and that there remained no hope of its being granted, 
he addressed himself to the Gallic chiefs, and calling 
them aside exhorted them not to leave the continent, 
for that it was Ctesar's plan to strip Gaul of all her 
nobility; and, whereas at home he would not venture to 
put them to death, yet he might safely do so when he 
had them in Britain; to this he added exhortations 
D 



34 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.III. 

that they should be loyal to theu* country, and unite 
one and all to enforce such measures as should tend to 
the common good. 

" All this being repeated to Csesar, he determined to 
take precautions that himself and the state might not 
suffer by it. He therefore remained about five and 
twenty days where he was, because the north wind, 
which generally blows in those parts, impeded his 
voyage, and he did his utmost to keep Dumnorix 
within the bounds of duty, and at the same time to 
discover all his plans. At length, when he found the 
weather favourable, he ordered both cavalry and 
infantry to embark. But the zeal of all was now 
damped, and Dumnorix with his cavalry, leaving the 
camp Mdthout Caesar's knowledge, commenced their 
march homeward. News of this being brought to 
Caesar, he postponed his departure and every thing 
connected with it, and sent the greater part of the 
cavalry to pursue him and bring him back, or to kill 
him if he resisted : for he saw that in his own absence 
it would be folly to expect much from one who dis- 
obeyed orders even in his very presence. Dumnorix 
being overtaken, chose to resist,, and repeatedly cried 
out that he was a free man, and member of a free 
state. The troops, according to orders, surrounded 
and slew him: the cavalry to a man returned to Caesar, 

" After this, Labienus was left with three legions and 
two thousand cavalry, to defend the ports and manage 
the commissariat department. He was also instructed 
to keep an eye on what was passing in Gaul, and act 
accordingly. Caesar himself, with five legions and the 
same number of cavalry as he left on the continent, 
put to sea at sun-set, with a gentle gale from the west, 
but about midnight the wind fell, and being unable to 



B.C. 54.] C^SAR PUTS TO SEA WITH 800 SHIPS. 35 

maintain his course, he found himself carried down by 
the tide, and in the morning saw Britain behind him 
off to the left. When the tide turned, the seamen 
took to their oars, and tried to make that part of the 
island, which the preceding summer he had found so 
well adapted for landing. The zeal of his men in 
seconding his plans cannot be too highly commended, 
for by the most unremitting exertions they rowed 
along theu' transports and heavy vessels, so as to keep 
company with the long ships of war. All the fleet 
reached Britain about noon, and not a single enemy 
was to be seen; though, as Csesar afterwards learnt 
from the prisoners, a large number of men had been 
collected, but the multitude of our ships, which with 
the old vessels and private craft that individuals had 
taken for their own advantage, amounted altogether to 
more than eight hundred, so frightened them, that they 
left the shore, and retired to the higher parts of the 
country. 

" Caesar, having landed his army, and chosen a 
proper place for his camp, was informed by some 
prisoners where the enemy were ; and having left ten 
cohorts and three hundred horse near the sea, to 
guard the ships, about the third watch of the night he 
set out to find them. In the mean time he had no 
apprehensions about his fleet, because he left the ships 
at anchor on a smooth and open coast, under the 
charge of Quintus Atrius. After advancing by night 
about twelve miles, he got sight of the enemy, 
who came down to the river'' to meet him with their 
cavalry and chariots, and attempted from elevated 
ground to begin the battle, and repel our troops. But 

^ This must have been ihc river Stoiir, wliich is the only con- 
siderable stream in that part of the comiiry. 
D 2 



36 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.III. 

our horse soon drove them back, and they took refuge 
in the woods, where they had a place singularly strong 
both by nature and art, and which to all appearances 
had been constructed by them as a stronghold during 
their civil wars; for every approach to it was effectually 
blocked up by felled trees. Some few of their troops 
however continued to skirmish from the woods, and 
prevented our men from entering their fortress. But 
the soldiers of the seventh legion locked their shields 
together so as to form what is called the testudo, and 
mounting over a mound thrown up against the defences, 
took the place, and expelled the Britons from the woods, 
without receiving much loss themselves. Csesar would 
not let them pursue the fugitives far, because, as he 
was a stranger to the country, and the day was now 
advanced, he wished to occupy the remaining part of 
it in fortifying his camp. 

" The next morning he divided his legionaries and 
cavalry into three bodies, and sent them in pursuit of 
the fugitives: but they had not gone far, and indeed 
the rearmost of them were still in sight, when some 
horsemen came from Quintus Atrius, and told Ceesar 
that during the past night a severe storm had arisen, 
and driven almost all his vessels on shore: neither 
ropes nor anchors remained, and both sailors and 
pilots were utterly unable to make head against it, so 
that by the ships dashing one against another, very 
great damage had been occasioned. 

" On hearing this news, Csesar sent after the cavalry, 
and ordered them to desist from the pursuit; whilst 
himself returned to the ships, where he witnessed the 
truth of what the messengers had communicated. 
About four of the ships appeared to be beyond hope, 
but the rest admitted of being repaired, though not 



B.C. 54.] A STORM DESTROYS MANY SHIPS. 37 

without much trouble. He therefore draughted off 
workmen from the legions, and sent for others from the 
mainland. At the same time he wrote to Labienus, 
directing him to supply as many ships as possible for 
the use of the legions. He now resolved, notwith- 
standing the difficulty of the task, to haul up all his 
ships, and enclose them in the same line of fortification 
as the camp. This labour occupied about ten days, 
and the work was not intermitted even during the 
night. The vessels were thus drawn up, and a camp 
strongly fortified; after which, leaving the same troops 
as before to guard the fleet, he again set out on the 
expedition which he had before abandoned. On 
arriving at the same place, he found that a much larger 
British force was now collected, the supreme command 
of which had by general consent been given to Cassi- 
bellaunus% whose territories were separated from the 
maritime districts by a river called the Thames, about 
eighty miles from the sea. This prince had in past 
times been engaged in continual wars with the other 
states, but on our arrival the Britons were alarmed, and 
made him commander in chief both civil and military 
over the whole nation. 

" The inhabitants of the interior of Britain are said 
by tradition to be the indigenous race ; but the sea- 
coasts are inhabited by Belgians ', who had settled there 

* This is probably the Roman form of the British name Caswallou. 

^ It is ahnost impossible at this distance of time to ascertain how 
far the Belgian settlements extended inland in Britain; though there 
are strong reasons for supposing that they covered a large portion of 
the south of England. The narrative of Ctesar would lead us to 
infer, that the Britons with whom he came in contact were not of 
two distinct races. He nuist therefore, as is evident from his own 
account, have fought against the Belgian settlers, and have had no- 
thing to do with the more ancient Celtic po])ulation. The Belga; 



38 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. III. 

for purposes either of war or plunder. The names of 
their towns are in general the same as those from 
which they came, when in the course of their wars they 
first settled here, and began to cultivate the land. The 
number of inhabitants is very great, and also of build- 
ings, which are similar to those of the Gauls: they 
have also great abundance of cattle. For money they 
use talleys of brass or iron, reduced to a certain 
standard-weight. Whitelead is found in the midland 
districts, and iron on the sea-coasts; but it is not very 
abundant; the brass which they use is imported from 
other countries. They have building materials of every 
kind, as in Gaul, except beech and fir. They hold it 
unlawful to eat hares, fowls, or geese; but they rear 
these animals for their pleasure and amusement. The 
country is milder than in Gaul, the cold being not 
so acute. 

" The shape of the island is triangular; one of its 
sides is that opposite GauL Of this side one ex- 
tremity is in Kent, where nearly all the ships from 

were at that time, as they are at present, a busy commercial people, 
and had sj)read, even in the time of Csesar, as far as the Seine 
towards the west in France. If this view of the extent of the Belgian 
settlements in Britain be correct, it removes a great deal of the 
difficulty which sm-rounds the story of the Britons having been ex- 
terminated in after ages by the Saxons. It is not likely that military 
invaders like the Saxons would either slay all the peasants of the 
country, or drive them into Wales; and it is morally certain that so 
poor a country as Wales would suffer from famine both then and now 
from the sudden influx of a hundred thousand foreigners. The Saxons 
would be more likely to retain the original British population as 
servants to till their grounds, and, if that population were of Belgian 
or German descent, as were the Saxons themselves, their amalgama- 
tion with a kindred race would be speedy and complete. But it is as 
yet imcertain how far the Cells themselves were originally of German 
descent also. 



B.C. 54.] MANNERS OF THE BRITONS. 39 

Gaul come to land. This end looks towards the east ; 
the lower extremity extends towards the south. The 
length of this coast is about five hundred miles. 
Another of the sides of Britain looks towards Spain 
and the west : Ireland lies in the same direction : this 
island is estimated to be about half the size of Britain, 
and is about the same distance from it as Gaul. Half- 
way between the two is an island called Mona ^ ; there 
are thought to be several other small islands, about 
which some authors have written, that in winter there 
is continual darkness for thirty days together. We 
could not obtain any information on these points by 
all our enquiries, though we discovered that the nights 
are shorter than on the mainland. The length of the 
second side of Britain is reputed to be seven hundred 
miles. The third side faces the north, and has no 
other land over against it, but the extremity of this 
side looks mostly towards Germany : it is supposed to 
be eight hundred miles in length. Thus the whole 
island is two thousand miles in circuit. 

" Of all the Britons, the Kentish men are the most 
civilized. Kent is entirely a maritime county, and its 
inhabitants in their manners resemble the Gauls. 
The inhabitants of the interior do not sow grain, but 
live on milk and flesh, and clothe themselves in skins. 
All the Britons stain themselves with woad, which 
produces a blue colour; and this makes them appear 
more temble in battle. They wear their hair long, 
and shave every other part of their body except the 
head and upper lip. Ten or twelve of them combine 

5 As Anglesey and Man are botli expressed by the same Latin 
name, Mona, there is great confusion between these two islands : the 
latter would seem to be intended in this passage. 



40 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.III. 

together, and have their wives in common : this is 
generally done between brothers, or between fathers 
and sons ; but their children are considered to belong 
to him who married the woman in the first instance. 

" The enemy's cavalry and chariots engaged most 
furiously with our cavalry on their march; but our 
men were every where superior, and finally drove them 
to the hills and woods : though, when they had slain 
several of them, they followed too eagerly, and lost 
some of their own body. The enemy now suffered 
some time to elapse, which our men occupied in 
fortifying their camp ; but whilst they were busily 
engaged in this, the Britons suddenly burst from the 
woods, and taking them by surprise, fell with fury on 
the outposts. C^sar sent two cohorts to relieve them, 
and as they were drawn up with a very little interval 
between them, the enemy, who astonished our men by 
their novel mode of fighting, burst furiously through 
the midst, and regained their position in safety. On 
this day we lost the tribune Quintus Laberius Durus. 
At last, more cohorts came up, and the enemy were 
repulsed. 

" In all these skirmishes, so immediately under our 
eyes, and close to the camp, it was evident that the 
weight of our men's armour prevented them from 
pursuing the enemy when they retreated, or advancing 
far from their own colours. In short, their accoutre- 
ments were ill adapted against such an enemy as they 
now had to deal with; and the cavalry in particular 
incurred great risk on the field of battle; for the 
Britons would often make a feigned retreat, and allure 
them to separate from the legions, after which, they 
would leap from their chariots, and take the cavalry at 
a disadvantage. For a body of cavalry is ill matched 



B.C. 54.] BATTLES WITH THE BRITONS. 41 

against an enemy that retreats and advances, and in 
both cases incurs great danger. Add to this, that the 
Britons never advanced in one body, but fought in 
small numbers, and at intervals between theu' stations, 
so that one squadron relieved another, and our men, 
who had been contending against those who were 
exhausted, suddenly found themselves engaged with 
a fresh body who had taken their places. 

" The next day the enemy took up a position on 
the hills at some distance from the camp, and only 
appeared a few at a time, whilst they were also less 
disposed to attack our cavalry than they had been the 
day before. About noon CsBsar sent out Caius Trebo- 
nius, the lieutenant, with three legions and all the 
cavalry to forage ; upon which the enemy assembled 
from all sides, and surrounded the foragers, who were 
unable to leave their colours, or separate from the 
legions. Our men now made a general attack upon 
them, and put them to flight, and pursued them 
without stopping, as long as the legions kept in sight, 
and gave the cavalry confidence of support, whilst they 
drove the Britons before them. In this manner they 
did not allow them time' to rally, or halt, or leap fi'om 
their chariots, according to their usual custom. Tn 
consequence of this defeat, the British reinforcements, 
which had come up in all directions, again disbanded, 
and from that time the enemy never again came to a 
general engagement. 

" Cuesar now, knowing their intentions, led his army 
towards the Thames, in order to invade the territories 
of Cassivellaunus. This river could only be passed 
on foot in one place'*, and tliat with difficulty. When 

*■ '1 his is su]>i)o.>ed lo bo Cowoy Stiikes, near Clieitscy. 



42 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.III. 

he arrived on its banks, he perceived a large force 
drawn up on the other side to oppose him ; the bank, 
moreover, was planted with sharp stakes, and others of 
the same kind were fixed in the river under the water. 
This intelligence Caesar gained from the prisoners and 
deserters. He accordingly sent the cavalry in advance, 
and brought up the infantry immediately in their rear. 
So great were the zeal and impetuosity of the soldiers, 
that whilst their heads alone appeared above the water, 
the enemy, unable to sustain their attack, abandoned 
the bank, and fled with precipitation. 

" Cassivellaunus, as we have before observed, aban- 
doned all idea of fighting, and dismissed the greater 
part of his forces, retaining only about four thousand 
men in chariots. With these he watched our march, 
and retiring out of our way, lay in wait for us among 
the woods and difficult passes. Meanwhile he cleared 
the whole country, through which our road lay, of 
both men and cattle ; and when our foragers went out 
to get provisions and ravage the country, his knowledge 
of the ways enabled him to assail them with all his 
chariots : this caused much danger to our cavalry, and 
prevented them going far from the main body. Caesar's 
only resource was to forbid distant excursions, and to 
confine his attention to annoying the enemy by such 
depredations and ravages, as the legionaries could, 
with much difficulty, accomplish in the course of their 
march. 

" Meanwhile the Trinovantes, the principal state in 
that part of the island, send ambassadors to Caesar, 
with ofiiers of surrender and submission. It was from 
this very state that the young man Mandrubatius had 
come to Caesar in Gaul, wishing to make an alliance 
with him : his father, Imanuentius, had been king of 



B.C. 64.] C^SAR PASSES THE THAMES. 43 

the Trinovantes, and had been put to death by 
Cassivellaunus : his son, however, escaped the same 
fate by flight. The conditions, on which they now of- 
fered submission to Ceesar, were, that he should espouse 
the cause of Mandrubatius against Cassivellaunus, and 
restore him to the sovereignty over his countrymen. 
Caesar required of them to give forty hostages, and 
supply his army with corn. He then sent Mandrubatius 
to them, and they on their part lost no time in fulfilling 
their part of the treaty. 

" The Trinovantes being thus protected, and orders 
given to the soldiers to do them no injmy, the Ceni- 
magni, Segontiaci, Ancalites, Bibroci, and Cassi, sent 
ambassadors, and made submission. Caesar was in- 
formed by these, that the town of Cassivellaunus ' was 
not far off, surrounded by woods and marshes, and 
occupied by a large number of men and cattle. The 
Britons call by the name of town, a place in the 
fastnesses of the woods, surrounded by a mound and 
trench, and calculated to afford them a retreat and 
protection from a hostile invasion. Caesar immediately 
marched to this place, which he found extremely strong, 
both by nature and art; however, he assailed it at once 
in two different quarters. The enemy stood their 
ground for a time, but at length yielded to the onset 
of our men, and abandoned the town on the opposite 
side. A great number of cattle were found there, and 
many of the enemy were slain or taken prisoners in the 
pursuit. 

" Whilst these things were passing, Cassivellaunus 

marched into Kent, which, as we said, lies along the 

sea-coast, and sent orders to the four kings of that 

country, Cingctorix, Carvilius, Taximagiilus, and Se- 

■ Supposed to be St. Alban's, near the more ancient Venilam. 



44 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. III. 

gonax, to assemble all their forces, and attack Caesar's 
naval camp by surprise. But when the enemy arrived 
at the camp, our men made a sally, and having slain 
many of them, returned safely within their intrench- 
ments, carrying with them a young chief, Lugotorix, 
as a prisoner. When Cassivellaunus was informed of 
the result of this battle, he was dispirited by his many 
losses, and seeing his lands laid waste, and, above all, 
his subjects beginning to be disaffected, he made a 
communication to Csesar through Commius the Atre- 
batian, asking for peace. Now Ctesar had determined 
to winter on the continent, lest there might be any 
sudden tumults in Gaul, and as he saw there would 
be no great difficulty in wasting what little summer 
still remained, he demanded hostages of Cassivellaunus, 
and fixed a tribute for the Britons to pay every year to 
the Roman people : moreover, he forbade Cassivel- 
launus to make war on Mandubratius or the Trino- 
vantes. 

" After this, the British hostages were delivered, and 
Csesar led his army back to the sea, where he found 
his ships refitted. But when they were all launched, 
the large number of prisoners, and the loss of some of 
his ships by the storm, led him to believe it would be 
better to divide the whole into two parts, and cross the 
sea twice." But the equinox was at hand, and the 
Romans, never very bold sailors, were apprehensive of 
danger if they encountered the gales, which set in at 
that period of the year. So the army was crowded 
together, as well as might be, into their ships, and 
putting to sea about nine o'clock in the evening, 
arrived early the next morning in Gaul, without injury 
to any of their ships, or the loss of a single man." 



B.C. 51.] GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. 45 



CHAP. IV. 

GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH — HIS FABULOUS HISTORY OF BRITAIN 
BEFORE THE TIME OF C/ESAR — HIS ACCOUNT OF C.^SAB'S INVASION. 



The narrative contained in the last chapter bears 
such an appearance of simplicity and truth, that the 
most implicit confidence may be placed in the veracity 
of the writer. It is evident from Ccesar's own words 
that he encountered an opposition from the Britons 
which he had not by any means expected, and the 
perseverance displayed by his enemies in attacking 
him is calculated to give us an enlarged idea of their 
condition as social beings. Slaves do not fight with 
that determination which characterizes the free citizens : 
at the first frown of fortune they turn their backs upon 
their foes, for defeat brings no worse evil than a 
change of masters. But the Britons waded into the 
water to repulse the invader irom their island, and 
when by superior address he had effected a landing, 
they hesitated not to throw their naked bodies in 
desperate conflict upon the spears and panoply of the 
Romans. Tliat Ceesar's views of conquest were baffled, 
is clear from his own recital; but later writers liave 
taken advantage of this admission, and have repre- 
sented him as having been entirely defeated, and 
pursued by the victorious Britons into Gaul. This 



46 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.IV. 

fable appears to derive its origin, or at least its propa- 
gation, from the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, a 
writer and Bishop of the early part of the twelfth 
century, and as it professes to be a translation from an 
ancient British author, it will not be out of place to 
introduce here those parts which relate to the invasion 
of Julius Cessar. The professed nature of the book 
will be best understood from the Preface, which is as 
follows. 

" In turning over many and various subjects in my 
mind, I happened to meet with a history of the kings 
of Britain; and thought it singular, that besides the 
accounts which Gildas and Bede have given us in 
their plain and simple v/ritings, I could find no notice 
of the kings who inhabited Britain before the Christian 
era, nor of Arthur and many others who succeeded 
after Christ j though their deeds are certainly worthy 
to be handed down to all posterity, and many people 
have stored them up in their memories, and take 
great delight in making them the subjects of their 
discourse. Such was the nature and course of my 
deliberations, when Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, a 
man deeply learned in oratory and foreign history, 
put into my hands a very old book in the British 
tongue, which set forth in order and in an elegant 
language the acts of all the British Kings fi'om Brutus, 
the first of them, down to Cadwallader the son of 
Cadwallo. At his request therefore, content with my 
own homely and unadorned style of language, without 
attempting to gather flowers from my neighbour's 
garden, I have endeavoured to translate the aforesaid 
book into the Latin tongue. For, if I had filled 
my page with big-sounding words, I should have dis- 
gusted my readers, who would have had to bestow 



B.C. 54.] GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. 47 

theii- attention on finding out my meaning, rather than 
on the historical facts which I described. I pray you 
therefore, Robert Duke of Gloucester, to patronize 
my work, that under your guidance and monitorship it 
may be carefully corrected, so that it may not seem to 
be derived from tlie humble stream which Geoffi-ey of 
Monmouth's poor talents can supply, but to be seasoned 
with the wit of your genius, and be received as the 
work of him who has the illustrious King Henry for 
his father, who has been educated in philosophy and 
in every liberal art^ him, whose native worth has made 
him the commander of our armies, and in whom 
Britain congratulates herself, that in these our times 
her Henry is again alive!" 

To this preface, from which it is evident that the 
author professes to have translated his work from a 
much earlier original, is subjoined a slight account of 
Britain, its fertility and products, together with other 
particulars apparently copied from the Roman histo- 
rians, and from the Ecclesiastical History of Venerable 
Bede. The author then proceeds to inform us, that 
Brutus, the grandson of iEneas and son of Ascanius, 
having had the misfortune to kill his father, fled from 
Italy his country, and after long wanderings arrived on 
the shores of Britain, where he possessed himself of 
the sovereignty of the island, built Trinovantum 
[New-Troy], now London, and bestowed the Duchy of 
Cornwall on one of his followers Corineus, from whom 
it received its name. 

Of this legend it is suflicient to say, that, if the story 
of Brutus is true, all ancient history, as commonly 
received, is fabulous : the accounts which all the Grecian 
and Roman writers have lianded down to us must be 
regarded as false and worthless; for they are entirely 



48 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. IV. 

at variance with the history of the Trojan Brutus. The 
nature of the case also is such as not to admit the 
probabiHty of Britain having been colonized from Troy. 
After the destruction of that city, the various chiefs 
who took to flight from its burning roofs, would 
naturally seek the nearest place of refuge, with no other 
case than not to fall in with cruising squadrons of the 
victorious Greeks. Hence, whilst no settlement of 
Trojans took place in Greece itself, we find every other 
part of the Mediterranean visited, or touched at, by the 
fugitives from Troy. The voyage of ^neas is a matter 
of history and of poetry founded upon fact j in addition 
to which, Antenor settled in Italy, and Acestes in 
Sicily: but there is not the slightest hint in the classic 
writers of any chieftain having passed beyond the pillars 
of Hercules, either directly from Troy, or in the age 
immediately succeeding; a voyage, which, from the 
circumstances of the fugitives, was unnecessaiy, and 
from its difficulty almost impossible. 

The narrative of Geoffrey enumerates a series of 
sixty-seven kings, from Brutus the founder to Cassi- 
bellaun, whose resistance to the arms of Csesar is not 
only recorded in authentic history, but recorded in 
terms creditable to our brave ancestors, and their bold 
but unsuccessful leader ^ Of these sovereigns, Lud 

" The names of these sovereigns are as follows: 1 Brutus, 2 Locrin, 
3 Guendolcena, 4 Maddan, 5 Meanpricius, 6 Ebrauc, 7 Brutus II, 
8 Leil, 9 Hudibras, 10 Bladud, 1 1 Leir, 12 Gonorilla, 13 Cunedagius, 
14 Rivallo, 15 Gurgustius, 16 Sisilius, 17 Jago, 18 Kinniarcus, 
19 Gorbogudo, 20 Dunwallo Molmutius, 21 Belinus, 22 Gurgiunt 
Brabtruc, 23 Guithelin, 24 Sisiilius, 25 Kimarus, 26 Danius, 
27 Morvid, 28 Gorbonian, 29 Arihgallo, 30 Elidm-e, 31 Vigenius, 
32 Peredure, 33 Gorbonian's son, 34 Margan, 35 Enniaunus, 36 Id- 
wallo, 37 Runno, 38 Geruntius, 39 Catellus, 40 Coillus, 41 Porrex, 
42 Cherin, 43 Fulgenius, 44 Eldadus, 45 Andragius, 46 Urianus, 



B.C. 54.] GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. -10 

and Leir figure in the pages of romance, and have 
obtained a name from the pen and the genius of the 
immortal Shaksperej nor is it to be beheved that the 
rest of this long line of monarchs exist any where else 
than in the imagination of him who first catalogued 
them. But the exploits of Cassibellaun", as related 
in the fabulous British legend, require a passing notice. 
According to the writer, Csesar, before setting out for 
Britain, despatched a letter to Cassibellaunus, claiming 
relationship on the ground of their common descent 
from Troy, and demanding that the Britons, as the less 
civilized branch, should yield submission to the more 
advanced and powerful Romans. To this demand 
Cassibellaunus is represented to have replied, that their 
relationship ought to unite the two nations in a bond 
of friendship and equal rights, and not be made the 
basis of subjection for the one, or preeminence for the 
other; that the Britons were content with the liberty 
which they had so long enjoyed, and would maintain it 
against all attempts to infringe it. These declarations 
of Cassibellaunus are stated to have been well substan- 
tiated by the result, for he is said to have met Caesar 
at the water's edge, and to have driven him in disgrace 
back to Gaul. Nennius, brother of Cassibellaunus, is 
made to engage in single combat with the commander 
in chief of the invaders, who almost falls a victim to his 

47 Eliud, 48 Clcdaucus, 49 Clctonrs, 50 Gnvgintins, 51 INIcrltuius, 
52 Blcduno, 53 Cap, 54 Ocnus, 55 Sisillius, 56 Blegabred, 57 Aith- 
iiiail,58 Eldol, 59 Redion, 60 Redevcliins, 61 Samuilpenisscl, 62 Pir, 
63 Capoir. 64 Cligueillns, G5 Hcli, 66 Liid, 67 Cassibcllaun. 

^ Camden supposes Cassibellaiiiuis to l)c more proi)crly written 
Cassibelinus, and derives it from " Cassi," a British tribe, and " Beli- 
nus," a British idol : but the orthography of this and similar names 
varies so much, as to make it absidiitcly impossible to speak decisively 
of their etymology. 

E 



50 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. IV, 

fury, tliough Nennius afterwards died of the woiind& 
which he had received. In the account of Caesar's 
second invasion, the Roman ships are described as 
having- sailed up the Thames, until they arrived at the 
place where the river had been planted with stakes; 
here the fleet, striking against these unexpected ob- 
stacles, was thrown into confusion, and much damaged: 
the British troops rushed upon the enemy, who again 
fled in dismay to the coasts of Gaul; nor was it until 
they had a third time crossed the sea, invited by one An- 
drogeus, the rival of Cassibellaunus, that Csesar, after a 
severe campaign, reduced the refractory island chieftain 
to submission. 

This narrative, which was until the sixteenth century 
generally received for authentic history, is now by 
common consent numbered among the fabulous legends 
with which all nations have endeavoured to ornament 
their early history. Mankind collectively and indivi- 
dually are ambitious of a long ancestry; the pride of the 
human intellect cannot content itself with the meanness 
which generally belongs to the origin of the most 
noble families, and of the most illustrious states. Hence 
arise the various tales which have been invented to 
adorn the early annals. But the growth of mind seems 
to be liable to the same impulses and vicissitudes which 
characterize the material creation around us. One 
nation rises, when another falls, in the same way as 
one class or genus of the vegetable kingdom grows 
upon the ruins of another. The parent soil maintains, 
generally speaking, its primitive features: Britain is 
still the same verdant island, and Rome maintains the 
same turreted position on the Tiber's banks, which existed 
in the days of Csesar; but new elements have entered 
into the constitution of the people who live under 



B.C..")!.] MODERN BRITAIN AND MODERN ROME. -51 

either climate, and wliilst the Romans are an unhappy 
and a degraded people, miable if not to claim, yet to 
maintain their liberty j the Britons have become a 
mighty race, daily asserting new and hitherto unknown 
privileges, which are an ornament and source of happi- 
ness to them and to the world around them, and by 
their arms and commerce, united in one high career, 
they dispense the blessings of civilization to countries 
that Caesar never heard of'. 

•= History has preserved to us several anecdotes relating to Caesar 
himself and other private individuals, which, though they are of no 
importance as throwing light upon the expedition in general, may 
without impropriety be here added in a note at the conclusion of this 
Chapter. One of these is an adventure of a common soldier, related 
by Plutarch. [Life of Csesar, s. 16.] " Some of the Roman officers 
had got into marshy ground, where they were attacked by the enemy: 
seeing this, a private soldier threw himself upon thenr before the eyes 
of CaBsar, who was watching the result of the battle, and performing 
prodigies of valour, succeeded in rescuing his officers, though he had 
afterwards to force his way back, partly by swimming, and partly by 
wading. In this adventure, however, he lost his shield, which was 
accounted a disgrace among the Romans. His comrades received 
him in triumph ; but he, disconcerted at his loss, threw himself at 
Caesar's feet, and supplicated forgiveness." We are told by Velleius 
Paterculus, that the narrative of Ctesar's exploits would fill many 
volumes : without this, we might be tempted to think that the fol- 
lowing adventure related by Valerius Maximus, in rather bombastic 
language, (which we shall here omit,) is only a diffiarent version of the 
preceding. " Scaeva, one of Ceesar's soldiers, with four of his com- 
rades, crossed in a boat to a rock near the shore of the island, where 
they were left by the ebbing of the tide. They were speedily attacked 
by the Britons, and whilst the other four managed to escape in the 
boat, Sca3va remained exposed to their darts, which foil in showers 
about him. He kept them at bay for some lime with liis sword, 
until at last wounded and spent with fatigue, he plimged into the sea, 
and swam back, though with the loss of his sliield and helmet, in 
safety to the camp. Here he entreated the general's pardon for his 
fool-hardiness, and was raised to the rank of centurion in honour of 
E 2 



52 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. IV. 

his bravery." This exploit, however, or another very similar to it, is 
laid .by Csesar himself, [iii.53.] Appian, [ii. p. 465.] and Suetonius, 
[vi. 144.] near Dyrrachium, and by Dion Cassius, [xxxvii. 53.] on 
the coast of Portugal. 

These anecdotes, however, whatever may have been their locality, 
are certainly much less imjn-obable than the story told by Polyaenus, 
who wrote more than 200 years later. In his description of Csesar's 
passage of the Thames at Cowey Stakes, he says, that the Romans 
had in their army a very large elephant, an animal which the Britons 
had never before seen, and that it was the fright caused to both man 
and horse by so unwonted a sight which secured to them the victory. 
Jn refutation of so improbable a story, it is sufficient to say, that no 
trace of it is found in the contemporary historians. 

Of the daring courage displayed by Caesar himself in all his cam- 
paigns, we have abundant instances, without supposing, as the emperor 
Julian the Apostate states, [De Ceesar, p. 320.] that the general himself 
was the first who jumped out of his ship to attack the Britons : it is 
more gratifying to find, that Caesar's habits of life and tone of mind 
were all fomred upon a system to which no great man ever was an 
exception. " In the British campaign," says Athenseus — quoting from 
Cotta, a Greek writer, whose work on the polity of the Romans is 
unfortunately lost, — " Caesar was content with only three domestic 
servants;" and Seneca adds, that " in the middle of his campaign in 
Britain, he heard of his daughter's death : yet in three days he had 
vanquished his grief, which gave way like every thing else, before his 
great and lofty mind." 



CHAP. V. 



SENSATION PRODUCED AT ROME BY THE BRITISH EXPEDITION- 
AUGUSTUS — NOTICES OF BRITAIN BT POETS AND GEOGRAPHERS. 



When we consider the magnitude of the prepara- 
tions which Caesar made for his second expedition, it 
can hardly be doubted that his intention was to subju- 
gate the whole of Britain, if possible, to the dominion 
of Rome. With this view, it was not difficult to find 
an excuse to justify his unprovoked aggressions on a 
brave and independent people; and if the Britons had 
not furnished him with a plea by withholding the tribute 
and hostages which they had promised, " there can be 
no doubt," says the historian Dion Cassius*, " that he 
would have found another." But his mighty prepara- 
tions, as we have seen, were bafQed; and another 
hundred years were destined to elapse, before our brave 
and high-spirited ancestors bent their necks in submis- 
sion to the greatest power that has ever yet been suilered 
to rule and tyrannize over mankind. 

Whilst the Roman army were still in Britain, great 
anxiety was felt at Rome for the success of the expedi- 
tion : and this was but natural, for the event of the war 
depended perhaps less on the tried discipline and 
courage of the Roman legions, than on the winds and 
waves, which in the northern regions where Britain 
was situated, at all times capricious and subject to 

• Hist. xl. s. 1. 



64 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

sudden impulses, might cut off communication with 
the mainland; and the Romans were at no period of 
their history very eminent as a naval nation. Another 
object of alarm was the peculiar nature of British 
warfare, conducted principally by cavalry and war- 
chariots. " Take care," says Cicero, in a letter written 
at the time to his friend Trebatius, who was serving 
under Caesar, " that after you have so often cautioned 
your friends against surprises, you do not get taken 
unawares yourself by one of the British war-chariots." 
In another letter he tells the same friend to avoid two 
things, bathing in the sea, and coming in contact with 
the chariots. But a more ignoble cause of anxiety for the 
success of the expedition was the expectation of plunder, 
which more or less actuates all military expeditions. 
In the narrative of Csesar, notice is taken of the private 
adventurers, mostly merchants, who accompanied him to 
Britain ; but we are indebted to the great orator, who 
at this time had already reached the zenith of his glory, 
for more explicit allusions to the hopes of plunder that 
were entertained. He thus writes to Trebatius : " I 
hear there is no gold nor silver in Britain. If this is 
the case, I advise you to catch one of their chariots, 
and come back amongst us as soon as you can." And 
to Atticus he writes as follows ; " We are looking out 
for the termination of the war in Britain. It appears 
that the approach to the island is wonderfully difficult: 
and by this time it is pretty well ascertained that there 
is not a scruple of gold or silver in all the island, and 
no hope of making booty, except from slaves; and 
I fancy you hardly expect to find any scholars or 
musicians among them." But Quintus, the brother of 
Marcus Tullius Cicero, was in the number of those, 
who followed Caesar to Britain; and from the terms of 
the letters which he received from Marcus at Rome, 



b.c.54.]cicero''sletterstohisbrotherinbritain55 

we may hope that the object of his journey was, in part 
at least, to study the new features which an unknown 
country and its novel race of inhabitants might present 
to the philosophic observer. " How delighted I was 
to receive your letter from Britain ! For I had great 
fear about you from the sea and the rugged coast of 
that island. There were other circumstances of equal 
importance to influence me, but they raised rather my 
hopes than my fears. What a noble subject you now 
have for employing your pen ! What descriptions you 
may now indulge in about the things and the places 
you have seen: their situations, the tribes you have 
been amongst, their manners, the battles you have been 
in, and the glorious commander you fought under P" 

" Your fourth letter, dated from Britain the 10th of 

August, reached me on the 13th of September. I also 
on the 28th of September received a letter from Ciesar 
dated the first of that month, in which he told me not to 
wonder at my getting no letter from you, for that you 
were not in his company, when he arrived on the coast." 

The correspondence of Cicero with Csesar was as 
frequent as the necessary occupations of the latter 
would permit: for in little more than a month another 
letter from Caesar informed his correspondent of the 
state in which things then stood. " On the 24th of 
October," says Cicero to his friend Atticus, '' I received 
letters from Caesar and my brother Qaintus, dated from 
the coast of Britain, Sept. 26th. The country had 
been reduced to submission, the hostages were delivered, 
and though no booty had been amassed, they had im- 
posed a payment of money on the natives, and were re- 
transporting the army to the continent." 

For these allusions to Caesar's British expedition 
we are indebted to that eminent writer Cicero, whose 



56 HISTOKY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

works, as voluminous as all those of his contemporaries 
and predecessors put together, are the greatest monu- 
ment of an universal genius that has ever adorned the 
annals of a nation. But, though the conquests of 
Csesar made great noise at Rome, we have few records 
of them, or notices of the island, besides those which are 
evidently taken from Csesar's own commentaries: pro- 
bably the very celebrity of the thing may be a reason 
why we have little more than allusions made by the 
poets of the day to such occurrences as were most 
likely to furnish conversation to the people. Thus 
Catullus, who wrote his lyric compositions, whilst 
Julius Ceesar was still alive, concludes one of his odes 
in these words ", 

Or o'er the lofty Alps shall go 
And mighty Caesar's records trace, 
And view the Gallic Rhine, and furthest Britain's fearful 
race ; 

though Catullus did not always allude to Caesar in terms 
of panegyric : for the following, though severe, was 
considered to be a just censure upon his boundless 
extravagance and debauchery. 

AGAINST C^SAR. 

No eye can look upon it; none endure it. 
Except a glutton, debauchee, or spendthrift, 
That what the long-hah-'d Gaul or distant Briton 
Enjoyed before, a gladiator should squander. 
Shame on you, Romans, will you view such deeds ? 



Were these the ensigns, singular general, 

'Neath which you fought' in the remotest western isle ? 

First your paternal vvealtli was spent and gone : 
Next came the spoil from Pontus : then the third 

" Carm. I. 11, 9. Ibid. I. 29. 



B.C. 50-1.] NOTICES OF BRITAIN BY THE POETS. 57 

From Spain and Tagus with its yellow sands. 
Say, Gauls and Britons, did you fear this man ? 

The independence of the Britons, iifter all the mighty 
attempts of Csesar, is hinted at in the following. 

ON ACME AND SEPTlMIUS'i. 
Septimius, lorn and luckless swain, 

Would rather clasp his xlcme dear, 
Than reap the fruits of Syria's plain, 
Or over all the Britons reign : 
And Acme will no lover own 
But her Septimius alone. 
But whilst these effusions of the poets were sig- 
nalizing the success or the reverses of Caesar in the 
distant island, that general, triumphant over Pompey 
and over the republic, was cut off, still in the vigour of 
life, by as disgraceful an act of bloodshed as any which 
was ever hallowed by and at the same time desecrated 
the name of freedom. A new course of wars and con- 
fusion followed, which ended in the entire submission 
of the empire to Augustus, Ceesar's nephew, a man 
whose early career pointed out, that whilst he had sufficient 
cunning to guide any measures that might be necessary 
for his purposes, he was equally certain to stick at no 
act of violence which might ensure their success. But 
fortunately for Rome, her first emperor's character 
changed when his road to success was certain : he 
found his capital built of brick, and he left it of marble : 
he found his people groaning under that worst of evils, 
an intestine war, and he left it in the enjoyment of that 
greatest of blessings, the utmost measure of liberty 
which it was calculated to receive. 

Augustus seems, as Tacitus says", to have inten- 
tionally slighted Britain, considering it a piece of 

' Cat. Carin. xlii. "■ Agr. 13. ;is quoted by Camden, 1. Ixxvii. 



58 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

policy, that the Roman emph-e should be bounded by 
the Ocean, the Ister, and the Euphrates, limits which 
nature herself seemed to have placed; or as Strabo 
hints, because he saw no great advantage to be gained 
by passing over into Britain. Whatever may have 
been the motive, it is certain that for a long time he 
abstained from interfering in the affairs of our island. 
At last, however^, he set out for the purpose of 
reducing it to become a member of the empire, and it 
was on this occasion that Horace addressed to the 
Goddess Fortune of Antium that well-known prayer^, 
Serves iturum Ccesarem in ultimos 
Orhis Britannos. 
Propitious guard the prince, who bold explores 
His vent'rous way to farthest Britain's shores. 

But the emperor had no sooner arrived in Gaul, 
than the Britons sent a deputation to meet him. Some 
time was spent in negociation, and it would seem fruit- 
lessly; for the historian Dion Cassius tells us, that the 
Britons would not enter into a treaty, and that Augustus, 
when on the point of invading the island, was withheld 
by a revolt of the Salassii^. 

But we learn from Strabo, in a passage which will 
hereafter be quoted, that the island was brought by 
fair means into a species of subordination to Rome, 
which exercised a sort of fascination, no doubt, such as 
civilization often practises over independent barba- 
rians, preparing them, as predatory animals of the 
serpent tribe prepare their helpless prey, that they may 
submit the more easily to be swallowed and devoured. 

That Britain was about this time brouo-ht into a 

o 

little closer connection with the rest of the world, is 
certain from the continued allusions to its inhabitants 

' Dio Cass. liii. 22. s Hor, i. 35, 29. '' Dio Cass. liii. 25. [A. D. 26.] 



B.C. 50-1.] NOTICES OF BRITAIN BY THE POETS. 59 

found in the writings of the Roman poets, some of 
them sliewing that they were as well known to the 
Romans as the Swiss in modern times at the court of 
France, or the Irish labourer in the streets of London. 
Thus a custom noticed in Virgil's Georgics' shews 
more plainly, perhaps, than any other, the extent to 
which Britain had attracted the notice of the Roman 
public; for the curtain at the theatre, which was drawn 
up and seemed to rise out of the ground at the conclu- 
sion of the drama, was covered with figures of painted 
Britons, to which the poet refers in the lines, 
Or see how on the stage the shifting scenes 
In order pass, and pictured Britons rise 
Out of the earth, and raise the purple curtain. 
But whilst these and other passages in the Latin Poets'' 

' Geor. iii. 21. 

''Of these it will suffice to quote the following, extracted from the 
works of Lucretius, Propertius, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, aud Gratius 
Faliscus, who all lived within fifty years after Caesar, and long before 
any other Roman set foot, for purposes of conquest, on the shores of 
Britain. 

Lucretius vi. 106L 
A traveller in every place he sees. 
Or hazards, or endures, a new disease, 
Because the air or water disagrees. 
How different is the air of Britain's isle. 
From that which plays upon the wand 'ring Nile ? 
What different air does Pontus' snows embrace, 
From that which fans the sun-burnt Indian's face P 

Propertius IL XX. 63. 
Ye, mortals, seek to know man's hour of death. 
And also by what road death will approach : 
Ye trace Phoenician science in the heavens. 
And learn the influence of each star on man. 
Or, if by land the l^arlhian, or o'er sea 
We chase the Briton, ye would learn the dangers 
Which there await us or by land or sea. 



60 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

shew that Csesar's exploits in Britain met with their 
due share of popular notice, the opportunity, which the 

Horace, Od. I. xxi. 13. On Apollo. 
He shall avert war's tears aT\d famine's horrors. 
And pestilence from Rome and from her Prince, 
And banish them far off to distant Persia, 
Or Britain, at your supplicating prayer. 

Od. III. iv. 33. To Calliope. 
Safe mid the Britons, fierce to stranger guests, 
'Neath thy protection. 

Od. III. V. 2. On Augustus. 
A present God Augustus shall be deem'd, 
Persians and Britains bent beneath our yoke. 

Od, IV. xiv. 47. To Augustus. 
The ocean full of monsters, which doth beat 
On Britain's distant shores. 

Ep. I. vii. 7. On civil sTParE. 
Ye fight not that your arms may prostrate throw 
Your British foe, by Rome still unsubdued. 
And lead him chain'd a prisoner in the triumph. 

Virgil. Ecl. i. 65. 
But we to Afric's thirsty shores must roam. 
To Scythia, or Oaxes' rapid stream. 
Or Britain from the world divided far. 

Georg. i. 30. 
And distant Thule shall obey thy word. 

Ovid. Met. xv. 746—759. 
Csesar's a God in Rome: in war and peace 
Conspicuous; but nor war, nor peace, nor triumph. 
Nor glory of distinguished deeds at home. 
Have raised him to this rank, or to a star 
Have turned his glories, but his mighty Son, 
Most glorious that of all his glorious deeds. 
Say, is it more to vanquish azure Britons, 
To sail one's fleet through the seven mouths of Nile 
Papyrus-bearing, or Numidian rebels, 
Cinyphian Juba, and the Pontus swelling 
With Mithridates' names, to bend beneath 
The yoke of Rome, to earn some triumphs and 



B.C. 50-1.] STRABO AND DIODORUS. Gl 

opening of a new country afforded, of extending the 
bounds of science, was not lost upon tlie geographer 
Strabo, nor upon the historian Diodorus of Sicily. 

It is doubtful to which of these is to be ascribed the 
priority in point of time: but the generally received 
opinion is, that both were contemporaries of Caesar, 
and wrote their great works not many years after his 
death. It was consistent with the plan of these writers 
to introduce into their writings an account of the 
greatest discovery which their age could boast of: 
accordingly we find, both in the pages of Diodorus 
and of Strabo, some interesting accounts of the geo- 
graphy of Britain and of the manners of its inha- 
bitants. These statements may be considered not so 
much as drawn from the narrative of Caesar, which 
were then first published, as based upon oral inform- 
ation, gathered from the soldiers and j)rivate persons, 
who accompanied Caesar in his expedition. Their 
accounts may be blended together as follows, and in 

To merit more — than 'tis (o be the Father 

Of one, whom when the Gods gave for our ruler, 

The Gods could do no more to save our race ? 

Am. 2. El. 16,38. 
I do not seem to sing my native place. 
But Scylhia, fierce Cilicians, and green Britons, 
And rocks which blush with Promethean blood. 

GuATius Falisous. Hunting Poem, 174. 
But if you visit the Morinian shores. 
Whose ebbing waves oft leave the Ocean doubtful. 
And thence cross o'er to Britain, .set aside 
The form and colour, which in British dogs 
Are the worst points, but, when the tug of war 
And inbred courage spur them to their work, 
Then is their metal seen ; Molossian hound 
In vain competes with them. 



62 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. V. 

their own words, as far as the difference of language 
will allow: 

" Britain is in shape triangular: its longest side 
lies parallel to Celtica, to which it is also equal in 
length : for each of these countries extends about four 
thousand and three or four hundred furlongs ^ Celtica 
reaches from the mouths of the Rhine to the northern 
extremity of the Pyrenees near Aquitaine, and Britain 
has for its most easternly extremity that part of Kent"" 
which is opposite the mouths of the Rhine, and reaches 
to its western extremity, which lies over against Aqui- 
taine and the Pyrenees ^ This is the shortest estimate 
of the distance between the Rhine and the Pyrenees : 
but the longest calculation makes the distance five 
thousand furlongs. 

" There are four ports at which voyagers generally 
cross from the mainland to the island; those are at the 

^ Diodorus differs from Strabo in his estimate of the length of 
the south coast of Britain. His words are: " The shortest of its 
sides is seven thousand five hundred furlongs, and extends along 
Europe: the second side stretching from the strait to the vertex of 
the island, is fifteen thousand furlongs ; and the third side twenty 
thousand furlongs : so that the whole circuit of the island is forty- 
two thousand five hundred furlongs." But it is manifest that neither 
of these two writers could at that time have possessed any certain 
information on the subject. 

" Diodorus adds, that the Kentish promontory was said to be 
a hundred furlongs from the continent. Strabo says elsewhere, 
[Book I.] that Kent and the mouths of the Rhine were near enough 
to be in sight of one another. This observation confirms the opinion 
which generally is entertained, that the south-eastern promontory of 
Britain once extended much further towards Belgiiuii and Holland 
than it does at present; and the tradition respecting the Goodwin 
sands having been once dry land, receives confirmation from it also. 

° And is called Belerion, Diod. The third promontory of 
Britain extends, they say, out towards the sea, and is called Orcas. 
Diod. 



B.C. 30-1.] STRABO'S DESCRIPTION OF BRITAIN. 03 

mouths of the river Rhine, the Seine, the Loire, and 
the Garonne: but those, who cross from the country 
about the Rhine, do not sail from the very mouths of 
the river, but from the Morini, who border on the 
Menapians, where also is Itium, which the divine 
Caesar used for a port when he crossed into the island. 
He set sail by night, and reached his destination the 
next day about ten o'clock, having accomphshed a 
voyage of three hundred and twenty furlongs. He found 
the corn still in the fields on his arrival. The island 
is for the most part flat and woody, but there are many 
sti'ong places on hills. — It is said to be very populous, 
and the climate every where cold, as lying so far 
towards the north-pole. — It produces cora, cattle, gold, 
silver, and iron: which also form its exports, together 
with skins, slaves, and dogs of a superior breed for the 
chase. The Gauls use these dogs in war, as well as 
others of their own breed. Britain is said to be inha- 
bited by indigenous tribes, who retain traces of ancient 
manners. — In some respects, they are similar to the 
Gauls, but more simple and barbarous, far removed 
from the cunning and vice of men of the present day : 
their food is plain and inexpensive, and very unlike 
the luxury which wealth creates. — The men are taller 
than the Gauls; and not so yellow-haired, but more 
corpulent. And this is an instance of their stature : 
I saw at Rome some young men, who were six inches 
tailor than the tallest natives, but they were distorted 
in their feet, and not of a good figure. Though the 
country abounds in milk, there are some among the 
natives who do not know how to make cheese, and they 
are neither acquainted with the use of gardens, nor 
understand other branches of agriculture. — In gather- 
ing in the produce of their corn-fields they cut off the 



64 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

stalks of corn, and store them up in thatched houses, 
and out of these they pluck the old ears from day to 
day, and use them to make then- food. — They have 
several kings and chieftains amongst them, and are in 
general peaceably disposed towards one another". — They 
mostly use chariots in war, as some of the Gauls also 
do, and as the ancient Grecian heroes are said to have 
done at the siege of Troy. 

*' Their towns are the hills, on the tops of which they 
enclose a large space with felled trees, and within this 
fence they make for themselves huts composed mostly 
of reeds and logs, and sheds for their cattle : but these 
establishments are not permanent. The sky is rather 
stormy than cloudy, and in fine weather there is a mist 
which lasts some time, so that the sun is only seen for 
about three or four hours in the middle of the day. 
But this is also the case with the Morini and the 
Menapii, and other tribes in their neighbourhood. 

" The divine Csesar crossed over twice into the island, 
but he speedily returned without effecting any thing of 
consequence, or penetrating far into the country : for 
he was prevented by disaffection and quarrels among 
the Gauls, and also his own soldiers, besides which he 
lost many of his ships by the high tides, which prevail 
there at the full of the moon. He defeated the Britons 
in two or three battles, though he carried over only 
two divisions of his army, and he brought away host- 

° This is evidently a mistake of Diodorus: Mela gives a very different 
and much more probable account. " They are continually engaged 
in war, for which they are eager to find excuses, because they are 
fond of empire, and endeavour to augment their territories by con- 
quest. They fight not only on foot and on horse-back, but in 
chariots drawn by two and four horses: they are armed after the 
fashion of the Gauls, and have scythes fastened to the axles of their 
chariots, which thev call covines." 



A. D. 1 43.] BRITISH TRIBUTE TIN-MINES. 0") 

ages and slaves, besides other booty ^ in abundance. 
At present however some of their princes have sent 
ambassadors to cultivate the friendship of Augustus 
Csesar, and deposited offerings in the Capitol, and so 
brought the whole island to be in friendly connection 
with the Romans. They pay tolls of a trifling value, 
on all exports to Gaul and imports from thence : these 
are in general ivory bracelets, necklaces, glass-vessels, 
and such-like small wares. Thus there is no neces- 
sity for garrisoning the island : for it would require 
at least one legion and some cavalry, in order to gather 
tribute from it, and so the expense of the army would 
be equal to the income ; for the tolls must be lessened, 
if taxes were added, besides the dangers which would 
be encountered, if force were used. 

" Let us now speak of the tin which it produces. 
Tlie inhabitants of Britain, who live near the Belerian 
promontory, are peculiarly hospitable, and, from the 
great resort of foreigners, more polished in manners. 
They prepare the tin, and shew much skill in working 
the earth which produces it. This being of a stony 
nature and having earthy veins in every direction, they 
work their way into these veins, and so by means of 
water separate the fragments. These they bruise into 
small pieces, and convey to an island which lies in 
front of Britain, called Ictis'J : for at the great ebbs of 
the tide the channel becomes dry', and they carry 

f This statement sceins rather at variance with the letter of 
Cicero quoted at p. 55; perhaps the truth may lie between the two : 
it is likely that slaves formed the principal portion of the plunder 
which Caesar carried away from Britain. 

1 The Isle of Wight, called Vectis by the Latin historians. 

' With this account of Diodorns may be compared the >talonient 
of Strabo fpioted at page 10. 

!<' 



Q6 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. V. 

over the tin in large quantities on waggons. There is 
a singular circumstance connected with all the neigh- 
bouring islands which lie between Britain and the 
continent of Europe. At high tide they are islands, 
because the intervening channel is full of water ; but 
at the ebb the sea withdraws, and a large space is left 
uncovered, so that they look like peninsulas. From 
Ictis the tin is purchased by native merchants, and 
transported to Gaul : and finally it is carried by land 
through Gaul, a journey of thirty days, on pack-horses 
to the mouth of the Rhone. This account of the tin 
may suffice at present'." 

" There are also some smaller islands in the neigh- 
bourhood of Britain, and a large one called lerne, 
which runs parallel to it on the north, and extends to 
a greater width. We have no certain information about 
this island, except that its inhabitants are wilder than 
the Britons, and very voracious: they are cannibals, 
and hold it right to eat their fathers when they die : 
their customs as regards women affect publicity, nor is 
incest illegal among them. 

" The climate is unfavorable to the ripening of grain, 
but so luxuriant in herbage, which is very rich and 
sweet, that the cattle very soon fill themselves, and, if 
they were not driven off, would overfeed themselves and 
burst. Its inhabitants are uncivilized and ignorant of 
every virtue : to the social affections they are utter 
strangers*." 

" But we give even these statements with hesita- 

• The present breadth of the channel between the coast of Hamp- 
shire and the lale of Wight, as compared with this account, would 
lead us to infer, that the sea, in the lapse of ages, has made great havoc 
with the whole of the south-coast of England. See note at page 62. 

* Mela, iii. 6. 



A.D.I 43.] ORKNEYS THULE. 07 

lion, as depending on no certain testimony. As to 
their cannibalism, however, that custom prevails among 
the Scythians, and, under the restraints of a siege, the 
Gauls, Iberians, and many other nations, are said to do 
the same." 

" There are thirty islands called Orcades, [Orkneys,] 
a short distance apart from one another : the Hsemodae 
[Hebrides] are seven in number, and lie towards 
Germany"." 

" But concerning Thule, our accounts are still more 
obscure on account of its remote position, for it is said 
to be the most northerly of all countries. The narrative 
ofPytheas about this and other places in the same 
part of the world is fictitious, and of this we have proofs 
in what he has said of those parts of the world with 
which we are acquainted, for his stories are generally 
false, as we have elsewhere remarked: so that he must 
evidently have wi'itten much farther from the truth 
about those countries which are beyond our knowledge. 
As regards the climate and in matters of physical 
science he may be supposed to be sufficiently correct, 
considering that it is so near to the north pole : for he 
says, that of fruitful trees and animals there is great 
paucity, and of some a total want, that the inhabitants 
feed on millet and herbs, fruits and roots, and that 
wherever there is corn and honey, they manufacture a 
liquid from them to drink : and because they have not 
enough sunshine, they thresh their corn in large houses, 
caiTying in the straw with the grain, for their thresh- 
ing-floors become unserviceable on account of the dull 
weather and the storms'. 

" Mela, iii. 6. 

* The Roman geographer, Pompouius INIcla, gives the following 
acconnt of Thule, so famous both in Grecian and Roman history. 

f2 



68 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.V. 

" It is opposite the coast of the Belgse. In it the nights are short, 
because of the long time which elapses between sunrise and his setting 
in the west: in summer the nights are light, because the sun, at that 
period ascending higher into the heavens, though he is not seen, yet 
lights up all the neighbouring parts with his sj)lendour: but at the 
solstice there is no night at all, because the sun then becomes more 
plain, and shews not only his beams, but the greatest part of its orb." 
It is probable that Iceland is the Thule of the ancients; though this 
opinion is certaiuly incompatible with the description of Pomponius 
Mela. Some modern writers have identified it with Denmark or 
Norway, and others have not hesitated to assert that by Thule the 
ancients mean Britain itself. 



CHAP. VJ. 



BRITAIN LEFT TO ITSELF BY TIBERIUS — THE FOOLISH EXPEDITION 
OF CALIGULA — CLAUDIUS — CONQUEST OF BRITAIN BY HIS GENERAL 
PLAUTIUS. — VESPASIAN AFTERWARDS EMPEROR. 



During the long reign of the emperor Augustus '% 
little is known of what passed in the island of Britain ; 
but that it began at this time to emerge from its ancient 
condition is not only in harmony with the faint notices 
of it which the Roman historians have left us, but is 
what the nature of the case would lead us to expect. 
The contact between civilization and barbarism, riches 
and poverty, seldom takes place without producing a 
sensible tendency towards amelioration on the side of 
the inferior : and it is morally certain that a people of 
simple and primeval habits like the Britons would have 
abundant opportunity, in imitating the civilized and 
already degenerate Romans, of engrafting much refine- 
ment and many vices upon their native manners. 

In the year of our Lord 14, Tiberius, son in law of 
Augustus, ascended the imperial throne, and, as am- 
bition and love of conquest were not his ruling bias, it 
is no wonder that he left Britain, as he found it, in the 
enjoyment of its natise independence. Cunobelin'', 

" Tlie rciffii of AiigiisUis is dated IVoiii B. C. 42 lo liis di;at]), wliicli 
liappeiied A.D. 14. 

'• Cuiiobcliu is called Kimbclin by Matlhew of Wostmiuslcr, who 
says that ho died A.D. 22, and was succeeded by Guidcrius, who is 



70 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH.VK 

who occurs as its king or principal chieftain under 
Augustus, was still living in the reign of his successor, 
and, if we may trust to the evidence furnished by the 
Numismatic science, the name of Cunobelin seems not 
unworthy to be inserted among those of the greatest 
men that our country has produced. No less than 
forty different varieties of coins '^ have been discovered, 
bearing the name of Cunobelin or of Camalodunum his 
capital and residence. It is evident from the inspec- 
tion of these authentic monuments that they were framed 
upon the Roman model : and this fact confirms the 
supposition, that Britain made great progress in the 
arts of social life, during the period which we are 
now reviewing. As yet also a good understanding 
generally prevailed between the chiefs of the island 
and the Roman authorities: for in the first year of the 
reign of Tiberius, his kinsman Germanicus, whilst 
pursuing his military career in Germany, lost several 
ships of his fleet by a storm, and the soldiers who were 
on board, were cast away on different parts of the ad- 
joining coast. Some of them, we are told, were thrown 

supposed by Alfbrd to be the same as Togoclumiius. But such a 
supposition being entirely gratuitous^ is of no value, and the authority 
of Matthew of little weight. The Cyinbeline of Shakespere is no 
doubt the Cunobelm of the Romans. 

'■ See Gough's Camden, vol. i. p. cxiii. where ihree coins are 
engraved. The various confliciing opinions which are there staled 
will convince the reader how totally ignorant we are of every thing 
connected with these coins, except the fact of their existence. The 
abbreviated forms cvno, boadi, and camol, which occur on some of 
them, most probably designate the words Cunobelin^ Boadicea, and 
Camalodunum, but, the words tascia and tascio still puzzle all the 
ingenuity of archseologisls. Camden's interpretation, that they desig- 
nate tax or tribute money, is just as likely as Pegge's, that they denote 
the name of the Roman mint master who was invited over by Cuno- 
belin to superintend the coinage. 



A. D. 16 43.] TIBERIUS — CALIGULA. 71 

on the shores of Britain, and were sent back by the 
chieftains. 

Tiberius also descended to the grave, and Britain 
was still free. The childish, and afterwards the cruel, 
Caligula succeeded to the imperial throne, which he 
occupied from A. D. 37 to 41, a period of four years. 
If we are to believe the strange narrative of Suetonius, 
this worthless emperor meditated a campaign against 
the Germans and Britons, and to intimidate them before- 
hand by executing some mighty work which should 
display his power, he gave orders for the construction 
of a bridge from Baise to Puteoli, over an arm of the 
sea, nearly two miles wide. This work was executed in 
imitation of the similar achievement performed by 
Xerxes about 500 years before, over the Hellespont : 
but if we are to believe what history tells of this con- 
temptible monarch, his bridge would be more likely to 
excite ridicule than terror in the warlike nations, whose 
subjugation he was meditating. 

The expedition, thus singularly prefaced, was actu- 
ally commenced, though it ended in a way which might 
have been anticipated from its foolish beginning. Admi- 
nius^ a son of Cunobelin the British king, had been 
driven from his father's court, and fled across the sea 
to find refuge with a few followers among the Romans. 
This man was received by Caligula, and became a 
vassal of the empire. Intelligence of the event was 
forwarded to Rome in a letter conceived in most extra- 
vagant terms, and addressed to the Roman Senate. 
The whole island was described as reduced to sub- 
mission, and the imperial messenger received orders not 
to halt at the usual place, but to drive into the Forum, and 

'' Oiosius [vii. 3.] calls this priiicu Miiiocuuobclimis, 



72 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. YI. 

to deliver his credentials no where else than in the 
temple of Mars, and before a full assembly of the 
Senate. 

After this, the emperor led his army down to the sea 
coast, as if to prosecute the war: here he ordered his 
men to be drawn up on the beach, and the military 
engines to be arranged for action. Whilst all were 
lost in astonishment, and unable to conjecture what 
they were going to do, Caligula, who had launched 
out to sea for a short distance and again returned, 
gave the word of command, and the soldiers fell to 
gathering the shells that lay upon the shore, and to 
fill their helmets and their bosoms with them. These 
the emperor described as the " spoils of Ocean, to be 
laid up in the Roman Capitol." In token of this 
victory they built upon the sea shore a lofty tower ^'^ 
which, whilst it reminded the better-educated traveller 
of the ridiculous cause of its erection, served for ages 
as a light house and beacon to many an ignorant 
seaman, who had never heard of the name or of the 
follies of Caligula. 

The death of this prince, A. D. 41, made way for Clau- 
dius, less sunk in vice and cruelty, but in intellect more 
obtuse than his predecessor. It is remarkable, how- 
ever, that a man of a capacity confessedly so low 
should have accomplished that which had been so 
long delayed, the annexation of Britain to the Roman 

" " The ruins of this are to be seen sometimes at low water on the 
coast of Holland;, and are called by the people Britonhuis. Stones 
with inscriptions are fvequenily found, one of which had these letters 
C.C. P.F. which some, how justly I know not, read Caius Caligula 
Pharum fecit." Gough, Camden, I. Ixxviii. Some authors say it 
was the Tour de Call, so called from Caligula, and others the Tour 
d'ordre at Boulogne. 



A.D. 43.] THE CAMPAIGN OF CLAUDIUS. 73 

enipire. The motive also wliicli induced Claudius to 
undertake this enterprise, is inconsistent with the 
reputed character of that prince. " The senate had 
voted him the insignia of a triumph," says Suetonius, 
who wrote about eighty years later, " but he thought 
his title to this honour insufficient, and unworthy the 
dignity of a prince. Wherefore, that he might obtain 
it in a more regular way, he chose Britain as his Held 
of action, because no one had ever made an attempt on 
it since the days of Julius Caesar, and it was now in a 
disturbed state, because some deserters had not been 
given up." Who these deserters were, is not clearly 
shewn ; but Dion Cassius, wlio wrote nearly two hun- 
dred years later, tells us, that one Beric had been driven 
out of Britain by an insurrection, and took refuge at 
the court of Claudius, whom he persuaded to send an 
army to conquer the whole island. This in\itation 
harmonized well with the emperor's preconceived views 
of conquest; an army was immediately raised, and 
Aulus Plautius, a distinguished senator, placed to com- 
mand it. This expedition was undertaken in the 
third year of the reign of Claudius, which coincides 
with the year A.D. 43, but operations were not com- 
menced, as was usual with the armies of the ancients, 
early in the spring; this was owing to the distance, 
which delayed their proceedings until the autumn; 
and partly to the rebellious conduct of the soldiers ; 
for though the campaign lasted only six months, 
yet we find it extended into the following year. 

interesting as it would be to all l^lnglishmen to 
trace minutely the incidents which marked the (inal 
subjugation of an island to the dominion of Rome, we 
are unfortunately compelled to take all we know of 
this period from the pen of Dion, a writer who lived 



74 HISTOKY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH.VI. 

two centuries after the events which he describes, and 
whose authority would have been of little weight in 
comparison of that which results from the evidence of 
an eyewitness, or even of a contemporary historian. 

In such cases it is important not further to dilute a 
narrative which already comes to us second hand. 
The description which Dion gives us of the expedition 
and conquest of Britain runs as follows ^ : 

" Plautius, taking the command, had great difficulty 
in persuading his men to leave Gaul. For the soldiers 
were highly enraged, as though they were about to 
make war beyond the habitable world; nor would they 
obey him until Narcissus, having been sent by Clau- 
dius, ascended the tribunal of Plautius, and expressed 
a wish to address them. But then, they became 
much more enraged against him than against Plautius, 
and would not permit him to utter one word; but sud- 
denly shouting out the well-known sound of ' To Satur- 
nalia,' which the slaves shout during the festival of 
Saturn when they assume the characters of their 
masters and give themselves up to revelry, they imme- 
diately followed Plautius with alacrity. In consequence 
of these proceedings, they were delayed in commencing 
their expedition. At length they were divided into three 
bodies, lest if they attempted to land all at one point 
they should meet with obstruction; and, during their 
passage, whilst they were somewhat disheartened on the 
one hand by the wind which blew against them, they were 
encouraged on the other hand by a meteor which spring- 
ing from the east darted across towards the west, 
whither they were navigating. In due time they landed 
on the island without opposition. For the Britons, 

' Dion Cass. Ix. ss. 19—23. 



A.D,4:3.] PLAUTIUS DEFEATS THE BRITONS. 75 

from what they had learned, not expecting that they 
would come, had not assembled together; nor even 
when they arrived did they attack them, but fled 
to the marshes and woods, hoping to wear them out 
by delay; and that, as had happened under Julius 
Csesar, they would go back without effecting their 
purpose. 

" Plautius, therefore, had much difficulty in seeking 
them out; but when at last he discovered them, as 
they were not independent but subject to different 
kings, he overcame first Cataratacus, then Togodum- 
nus, the sons of Cynobellinus, who was now dead. 
These taking to flight, he brought a part of the 
Boduni, who were under the dominion of the Catuel- 
lani, to terms of peace. Here leaving a garrison, he 
proceeded farther. But when they arrived at a certain 
river, which the barbarians supposed the Romans could 
not pass without a bridge, and in consequence had 
taken up their position carelessly on the opposite 
bank, he sent forward the Celti, who, even armed, 
were accustomed to swim with ease over the most 
rapid rivers; and they, attacking them contrary to 
their expectation, wounded, not the men indeed, but 
the horses which drew their chariots; which being 
thrown into confusion, their drivers were no longer 
safe. Next he sent over Flavins Vespasianus, who 
afterwards became emperor, and his brother JSabinus 
second in command; these also, having passed the river 
at a certain place, took the barbarians by surprise, and 
slew many of them. The rest, however, did not fly, 
but the following day again maintained the conflict 
nearly on equal terms, until Cneius Osidius Gcta, 
though in imminent danger of being made prisoner, 
at last so completely defeated them, that he received 



76 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VI. 

triumplial honours, although he had not yet served 
the office of consuL The Britons thence retreated to 
the river Thames, where it empties itself into the 
ocean, and becomes an estuary at high tidej and 
easily passed it, as they were well acquainted with 
those parts which were firm and fordable. The Romans 
pursued them, and on this point failed to overtake 
them ; but the Celti again swimming over, and others 
passing a little higher up by means of a bridge, they 
attacked them on every side, and cut off many of them ; 
but, as they pressed too rashly on the remainder, they 
wandered into the pathless marshes, and lost many of 
their own soldiers ^. 

" On this account, therefore, as v/ell as because on the 
death of Togodumnus the Britons would not give way, 
but rather banded together to avenge him, Plautius 
became alarmed, and advanced no farther; however 
he did what he could to secure his present ac- 
quisitions, and sent for Claudius : for so he had been 
instructed to do, should aught of greater difSculty 
arise; since much preparation had been made, and 
even elephants provided for this expedition. On 
receiving this intelligence, Claudius set out for the 
seat of war, and sailing from Ostia^ he went by sea to 

^ It was probably in this skirmish that the accident happened as 
related by the same liistorian Dion Cassius, [s. 30.] which had well 
nigh deprived the Britons of one of their greatest emperors. " In 
Britain," says Dion, " Vespasian being surrounded by the barbarians, 
and in imminent danger of being slain, Titus, his son, alarmed for 
his father, broke through the enemies, dispersed them with extra- 
ordinary gallantry, and pursued them with great slaughter." 

** " And was twice nearly shipwrecked by a violent northwest wind 
near Liguria and the Stoechadian islands. Wherefore he completed 
his journey by land from Marseilles to Gessoriacum." Suetonius 
Claud, xvii. 



A.D.44.] CLAUDIUS ARRIVES IN BRITAIN. 77 

Massalia, and afterwards, journeying partly by land 
and partly by the rivers, he arrived at the ocean, and 
passing over into Britain, there joined the forces which 
awaited him near the Thames. Taking the command, 
therefore, and crossing the river, he came into conflict 
with the barbarians who had assembled on his approach, 
overthrew them in battle, and took Camalodimum, the 
royal residence of Cynobellinus. After this he brought 
many into subjection, some by submission, others by 
force, and was repeatedly hailed emperor contrary to 
the custom of his country; for no person is allowed to 
receive this appellation more than once during the 
same war. And having disarmed them, he placed 
them under the government of Plautius, commanding 
him to subdue the remainder. As for himself, he 
hastened to Rome, sending forward the news of his 
victory by his sons-in-law Magnus and Silanus. 

" The senate, on learning what had been achieved, 
surnamed him Britannicus, granted him a triumph, 
and voted him annual games, a triumphal arch in the 
city, and another in Gaul, whence he had passed over 
into Britain, To his son, also, they gave the same 
surname, so that the title Britannicus should be, in 
a manner, peculiarly his own. 

" A part therefore of Britain being thus subdued, in 
th'e consulship of Caius Crispus the second time and 
Titus Statilius, [A.D. 44.] Claudius, after six months 
absence, of which he had passed only sixteen days in 
Britain, returned to Rome, and triumphed; performing- 
all other acts in due order, and, in addition, ascending 
the steps of the Capitol upon his knees, supported on 
either side by his sons-in-law. Moreover, he distri- 
buted to the senators who had served with him, not 
exclusively to those of consular dignity, triumphal 



78 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BEITONS. [CH. VI. 

honours, which at other times, also, he lavished 
profusely on the most trifling occasions. To Rubrius 
Pollio his prsefect he granted a statue, and a seat in 
the senate-house as often as he should accompany 
him thither; and lest he should appear to innovate 
at all in this respect, he observed that Augustus 
had acted in like manner towards one Valerius a 
Ligurian. Lacon also, who had formerly presided 
over the nightly guard, and was at that time pro- 
curator of Gaul, he dignified with the like and even 
with consular honours. Having completed these acts, 
he exhibited triumphal games, assuming for this 
purpose a certain consular power. These were per- 
formed in two theatres at once; he himself was fre- 
quently absent from the spectacle, and then others 
conducted it in his stead. He promised them as many 
horse-races as the day would admit of, which were not, 
however, more than ten; for bears also were slaughtered, 
and wrestlers contended between the courses : and boys 
sent for out of Asia performed the Pyrrhic dance. And 
another pageant in celebration of the victory was exhi- 
bited by the artizans employed about the theatre, by 
permission of the senate. Such things were done on 
account of the conquest of Britain; and that other 
nations there might the more readily come to terms, 
it was decreed that all covenants which Claudius or 
his legates had made with any of those nations should 
be as binding as if made by the senate and the 
people." 

These rejoicings' seem to shew that Britain was 

' Among other ceremonies, crowns of gold were presented to the 
emperor by the provinces. Gallia Comata, according to Pliny 
[xxxiii. 16.], presented one weighing nine pounds, and Spain 
a second weighing seven pounds. The emperor displayed his 



A.D. 44.] REJOICINGS AT ROME. 79 

considered no mean addition to the already overgrown 
empire of Rome; and this opinion is confirmed by 
the frequent discovery of coins struck in com- 
memoration of the event. One of these bears the 
magnificent inscription ' Tiberius Claudius Caesar Au- 
gustus, Tribune for the sixth and emperor for the 
eleventh time !' This piece, struck A. D. 46, or two 
years after the events which we have been relating, 
bears upon its reverse the record, " Over the Britons," 
inscribed on a triumphal car, surmounted by an eques- 
trian statue between two trophies; but the emperor had 
not yet learnt to heighten his triumph by the contrast 
of a female captive sitting pensive in the dust, and 
mourning the havoc which the conqueror had caused 
to herself and to her native country. 

magnificence by sea also; for he entered the Adriatic sea in a 
ship of so immense a size, that Pliny [iii. 20.] says it rather resembled 
a house than a ship. The triumphal procession by land was attended 
with unusual circumstancesAf rejoicing, for not only the governors of 
provinces joined in it, but even certain persons who had been exiles 
were allowed to return and participate in the festivity. A naval crown 
also was fixed on the top of the palace, to denote that the ocean itself 
had submitted to their amis. [Sueton. Claud. 17.] There are still 
in existence inscriptions recordhig these and other privileges granted 
to those who had been associated in the British expedition, or were 
otherwise connected with the emperor, and took part in the solemnities 
of his triumph. Sec the " Historical documents." 



CHAP. VII. 

PLAUTIUS — VESPASIAN — OSTORIUS SCAPULA — CARACTACUS. 



The conquest of Britain threw over the feeble reign 
of Claudius a certain degree of glory, in which the 
emperor himself, perhaps more by the obsequiousness 
of the age than from his own arrogance, was supposed to 
have participated. But it is some little praise to Clau- 
dius that he did not neglect the deserving generals to 
whom he really owed the success of his expedition. 
Plautius, its leader, was allowed to celebrate his vic- 
tories by the lesser kind of triuniph, which the Romans 
called an ovation, — a sad contrast, we may remark, to 
the age of Cincinnatus or of Fabricius, when merit 
would have secured the triumph for the successful 
general, and the ovation for him whose services deserved 
it. But the Romans, with monarchy, had adopted 
all its faults ; one of which, and that not the smallest 
perhaps, is the unworthy award of honours to rank and 
title, whilst large toil and little remuneration await those 
who contend on the arena of public life without these 
accessories. 

Among other officers engaged in Britain, the name 
of Vespasian has already occurred : he held the rank 
of consular lieutenant both to Plautius during the 
campaign in general, and to Claudius during the short 
time that he was in Britain. In the discharge of this 



A. D. 45 — 50.] VESPASIAN TITUS. 81 

office lie was often entrusted with the command of a 
separate army, and gave the first proofs of that miUtary 
capacity, which twenty-five years afterwards gained for 
him the empire of the world. 

This appointment had been procured for Vespasian 
by the favour of Narcissus, a freedman of Claudius, 
and probably an eunuch"; for the vicious customs of 
Eastern courts had already extended to the Roman 
city. But, however sinister the influence by which 
Vespasian obtained office, his services to the cause of 
his country were most distinguished. To him alone 
are ascribed the subjugation of two of the fiercest 
British tribes and the capture of twenty towns ; whilst 
the Isle of Wight submitted to his arms, and was per- 
manently embodied in the Roman empire. These 
achievements rendered Vespasian's'' name celebrated at 
Rome; the triumphal ornaments were awarded to 
him, and he was twice appointed to the priesthood within 
an unusually short space of time. Titus also, son of 
Vespasian, and at a later date successor to his father 
on the throne, distinguished himself in the British war, 
where he was a tribune of tlie soldiers : and to com- 
memorate his services both here and in Germany, we 
are informed by Suetonius, that numberless statues 
were erected to him in both those countries; though 
in modem times, when so many remains of Roman 



° Suetonius in Vita Vcspas. 4. Another eunuch, Posides, is said to 
have distinguished himself in the British war, and to have received 
a " hasta pura" as a reward of his bravery. Sucton. Claud. 28. 
He is called Possidius by Aurelius Victor, Epit. 4. 

'' " Nero sought out Vespasian, who byhis anus had recovered 
Britain, previously but little known; whence he aflbrded his father 
Claudius the means of a triumph, without any exertion on his own 
part." Josephus do JJello Jud. iii. 1. 
G 



82 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BEITONS, [CH. VII. 

art have come to light, no statue or inscription has 
yet been discovered in Britain of the emperor Titus. 

Whether these events preceded the return of Clau- 
dius from Britain, or happened afterwards, when that 
lethargic monarch had relapsed iuto the routine of 
courtly pomp, leaving his generals to complete the 
conquest of which he had himself engrossed the credit, 
history has not informed us : but when we read that 
the distant Orkneys were in this reign subdued and 
added to the empire, we may infer with much proba- 
bility that such extensive operations could hardly have 
been carried on during the few months which inter- 
vened between the commencement of the expedition 
and the return of Claudius to Rome. The war in 
Britain, therefore, was still raging, notwithstanding 
that the triumphal' procession of the emperor ap- 
peared to announce to his subjects that it was ended: 
but of the events which signalized the five years be- 
tween A. D. 45 and 50, no intelligence has reached us. 
During that interval, Plautius was recalled, and this 
created a pause in the progress of the Roman arms, 
which was not lost upon the brave and active islanders. 

In the year 50 the war began again to assume a 
serious character. The place of Aulas Plautius, the 



" We have the explicit statements of Eusebius [Cbron. ex intei-p. 
Hieron, hb. ii.] and Cassiodorus, [Chron.] that the triumph of 
Claudius took place in the fourth year of his reign^ i. e. A.D. 44, the 
year in which he returned from Britain. It may be worth while to 
mention, that Suetonius, followed by Joruandes, a writer of the fifth 
century, says, that Claudius reduced part of Britain without war or 
bloodshed. It is evident that this description alludes to the brief and 
peaceful display of magnificence which marked the sixteen days' 
stay of the emperor, rather than to the hard fighting by which his 
generals established the Roman dominion in the island. 



A. D. 50.] OSTORIUS SCAPULA. 83 

Roman governor, was then supplied by Ostoriiis 
Scapula, a general of consular dignity, and appointed 
to manage affairs in Britain with the title of Propraetor. 
Of the transactions which mark his government, an 
interesting account has been left us by the historian 
Tacitus'^, who, writing forty years later, may have 
gained his information from the oral testimony of 
persons who had themselves served in Britain. 

" Ostorius, arriving in his province, found things 
in the gi'eatest disorder: for the enemy had overrun 
all the lands of those natives who had submitted to the 
Roman government, and they had no suspicion that 
the new governor would march against them with an 
army to which he was a stranger, and at the beginning 
of winter. But Ostorius knew that the enemy would 
gain additional confidence by his inactivity, and he 
determined to strike them with a salutary terror by the 
promptness of his first measures. For this purpose 
he marched against them with ?uch troops as he had 
at hand, cut to pieces all who opposed him in the field, 
and fiercely pursued the fugitives without giving them 
time to rest or rally. 

" He also determined to make no peace or enter into 
any engagements, which he knew would have no other 
end than to give the enemy time to take breath, but to 
force all the tribes, of whose fidelity he had any sus- 
picion, to lay down their arms, and to enclose them 
within a line of fortresses drawn from the river Avon * 
to the Sevei-n. This step was first opposed by the 
Iceni, a powerful nation, and hitherto unbroken by the 



^ Annals xii. 31—40. 

* The original is Aufona, not Aniona, as in many editions — a most 
happy emendation of the text. 

G 2 



84 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VII, 

war, because they had before voluntarily embraced our 
alliance. By their advice, the neighbouring tribes 
appointed a place for battle, enclosed by a rude ram- 
part of earth, with a narrow entrance, and inaccessible 
to horsemen. These works the Roman general, though 
he had only the auxiliary troops of the allies and 
no legionaries, attempted to force, and disposing his 
cohorts, drew up likewise some troops of horse before 
the rampart. Upon a signal given they broke down 
the works, and fell upon the enemy, who became en- 
tangled in their own inclosure ', but from a conscious- 
ness of their revolt, and despair of escaping, they per- 
formed many gallant actions. In this battle Marcus 
Ostorius^ son of the lieutenant, gained the honour 
of having saved the life of a citizen. 

" The defeat of the Iceni awed those nations which 
fluctuated between peace and war, and the army 
advanced against the Cangi, whose territories they 
ravaged, carrying off much booty : for the enemy did 
not dare to face them, and if they fell upon the rear by 
surprise, were sure to pay dear for it. In this manner 
the army got pretty near the sea that looks towards the 
island of Ireland, when disorders arising among the 



* Claustris. Gale proposes to read plaustris, " by their own 
waggons, which proved a like impediment to Boadicea's ai-my." 
Gough's Camden, vol. i. page Ixxx. note. 

s The murder of this brave man by the tyrant who reigned after 
Claudius is related by Tacitus in these words, " Ostorius was absent 
at this time ou the frontiers of Liguria : thither a centurion was 
despatched to expedite his death. The cause of this haste arose 
from the high military reputation of Ostorius, which had gained for 
him the honours of a civic crown in Britain, added to which, his great 
personal strength and skill in arms had given alarm to Nero." Tac. 
Ann. xvi. 15. 



A. D. 50.] CARACTACUS. 85 

Brigantes, obliged the general to return; for he was 
ever attentive not to make new conquests, till the 
former advantages were secured. The Brigantes, after 
the slaughter of a few who had taken up arms, returned 
to their obedience, and obtained forgiveness : but 
neither severity nor milder measures had any effect on 
the Silures, who continued in arms, and required the 
force of the legions to reduce them. The sooner to 
accomplish this, a colony was placed at Camalodunum, 
consisting of a numerous body of veterans, who took 
possession of the conquered lands, ready to assist their 
countrymen against any revolt, and bring their allies 
into obedience to the Roman laws. 

" The army next marched against the Silures, who, 
in addition to the native ferocity of their tribe, placed 
gi'eat hopes in the valour of Caractacus, whom the 
many changes and prosperous turns of fortune had 
advanced to a preeminence over the rest of the British 
leaders. He, skilfully availing himself of his know- 
ledge of tlie country to countervail his inferiority in 
numbers, transferred the war into the country of the 
Ordovices, and being joined by those who distrusted 
the peace subsisting between them and us, soon brought 
matters to a decisive issue, for he posted himself on a 
spot to which the approaches were as advantageous to 
his own party as they were perplexing to us. He then 
threw up on the more accessible parts of the highest 
hills a kind of rampart of stone ; below and in front of 
which was a river difficult to ford'', and on the works 

^ " There is a hill called Caor Caradoc, close to the confluence of 
the rivers Cluue and Tome, which exactly corresj)onds with the place 
described by Tacitus as the scene of the battle which ensued. Caer 
Caradoc had probably been the royal seat and stronghold of some of 
the British princes from immemorial lime. It was situated on the 



86 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BEITONS. [CH. VII. 

were placed troops of soldiers. The respective leaders 
also went round to animate and inspirit them, to dispel 
their fears, whilst they magnified their hopes, and urged 
every encouragement usual on these occasions. 

" Caractacus, running from one to another, bade 
them consider that the result of that day would be the 
beginning of new liberty to them, or of confirmed and 
lasting slavery. He set before them the example of 
their ancestors, who had driven Ccesar the dictator out 
of Britain, and by whose valour they had been hitherto 
preserved from axes and tributes, and their wives and 
children from dishonour. The people received these 
animating harangues with loud acclamations, engaging 
themselves by the most solemn rites, according to the 
religion of their country, never to yield to weapons or 
wounds. 

" Their resolution astonished the Roman general, 
and the river which ran before them, together with the 
ramparts and the steeps which rose in their way, pre- 
sented to the assailants a formidable aad resolute 
appearance. But the soldiers were clamorous for the 
charge, crying out that valour w^ould bear down all 
opposition: and the inferior officers, inspiring the 
same sentiments, gave new courage to the troops. 
Ostorius, after reconnoitering the ground to see which 
parts were impenetrable and which accessible, led on 
the eager soldiers, and with much difficulty crossed the 
river. When they came to the rampart, while they 
only threw their darts at a distance, our soldiers sufiered 
the most, and numbers were slain: but when they 

ridge of a steep mountain." Thackekay. It may be added, that 
the name Caer Caradoc seems to have teen taken from that of the 
British Prince, of whom it was the casile or fortress. Caek Cauadoc 
in British J Castra Caiuctaci in Lathi. 



A. D. 50.] CARACTACUS TAKEN PRISONER. 87 

closed their ranks, and placed their shields over them, 
they soon tore down tlie rough irregular piles of stones, 
and coming to close quarters on equal ground, they 
obliged the barbarians to flee to the hills. Thither 
also both the light and heavy armed soldiers followed 
them, the former attacking them with their spears, 
the latter in a dense body, till the Britons, who had no 
armour or helmets to shelter them, were thrown into 
confusion ; and, if they made any resistance to the 
auxiliaries, they were cut in pieces by the swords and 
spears of the legionaries; against whom when they 
turned, they were destroyed by the sabres and javelins 
of the auxiliaries. The victory was a brilliant one : 
the wife and daughter of Caractacus were taken, and 
his brothers submitted to the conqueror. 

" Caractacus himself furnished an example of the 
dangers which misfortune brings with it ; for throwing 
himself upon the protection of Cartismandua queen of 
the Brigantes, he was put in irons, and given up to the 
conquerors. This happened in the ninth year after the 
war first broke out in Britain. His fame, which had 
reached the islands and the neighbouring provinces 
and even Italy, made people eager to see what kind of 
man it was who had so long set our power at defiance. 
Nor was the name of Caractacus inconsiderable at 
Rome, and the Emperor, in advancing his own glory, 
added to that of the conquered prince. Tlie people 
were assembled as if to see some great sight: the 
pra3torian cohorts were under arms in the field before 
the camp. First came the king's dependents and 
retinue, with the trappings, collars, and other trophies, 
which he had won in foreign wars : next came his 
brothers, wife and daughter, and last himself appeared 
before the assembled multitude. The others gave 



88 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VII. 

vent to their terror in unworthy suppUcations : but 
Caractacus neither by his looks nor his language 
appeared to claim their commiseration. When he 
came in front of the royal throne, he addressed the 
emperor in these words : 

" ' If I had made that prudent use of prosperity which 
my rank and fortune enabled me to do, I might have 
come hither as your friend rather than your prisoner : 
nor would you have disdained the alliance of a king 
descended from illustrious ancestors^ and ruling over 
many nations. My present condition, degrading as it 
is to me, reflects glory on you. I once had horses, 
men, arms, and money: what wonder is it if I was 
reluctant to part from them ! Your object is to obtain 
universal empire, and we must all be slaves ! If I had 
submitted to you without a blew, neither my own 
fortune nor your glory would have been conspicuous, 
and all remembrance of me would have vanished, when 
I had received my punishment: but spare me my life, 
and I shall be a lasting monument of your clemency !' 

" The emperor immediately pardoned Caractacus, and 
spared the lives of his wife and brothers, Theh chains 
were struck off, and when they had made obeisance to 
the emperor, they advanced to pay the same respect to 
the empress Agrippina, who sat on a raised seat not 
far off. A woman sitting at the head of the Roman 
army, among the Roman ensigns, and seeming to 
command them, was a new sight, and very foreign to 
the manners of our forefathers; but her family had 
helped to gain the empire, and she claimed a share in 
the honours. After this, an assembly of the Senate was 
held, and many congratulatory speeches were made on 
the taking of Caractacus. It was considered as illus- 
trious an occasion as the capture of Syphax, Paulus, 



A. D. 50.] CARACTACUS AT ROME. 89 

Perses, or any other of those kings, who were led 
before the Roman people ; and the insignia of triumph 
were accordingly voted to Ostorius." 

Caractacus retired from before the throne, safe in the 
imperial clemency from the ignominy and perhaps 
death, which, to the shame of Rome, was generally the 
fate of captive monarchs; but the noble-minded Briton, 
barbarian as they called him, possessed a soul superior 
to the condition to which fortune had reduced him. 
As he walked through the streets of Rome, admiring 
its size and beauty, a thought of his native island 
flashed across his mind, — of its lowly cottages, and of 
the wild independence which he had enjoyed as he 
roamed through his paternal forests. " Is it possible," 
he exclaimed, " that the Romans, who possess such 
splendid palaces at home, can envy me my humble 
cottage in Britain • ?" Thus closed the career of a 
patriotic prince, who, under the influence of a more 
prosperous fortune, might have risen to the highest 
eminence, and been classed in the same rank as an 
Alfred or an Alexander. His name no longer appears 
in the page of history, and our attention is again fixed 
on the struggle for liberty which, notwithstanding his 
capture, was still maintained by his brave countrymen 
against the arms of Rome. 

The colony of Camalodunum was no doubt of great 
use to the victors, as an outpost against the more 
distant and less peaceful tribes; but another instrument 
of conquest was brought into action by those prudent 
conquerors. Out of the spoils taken in the war, 
several cities were selected and bestowed upon Cogi- 
dunus, one of those kings or chieftains, who, wanting 
the spirit of C.'aractacus, had early submitted to the 
'■ Zonaias, Hist. v. 2. 



90 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CfJ. VIT. 

invaders. " He has remained," says Tacitus, " faithful 
to us even to the present time, an instance of the 
soundness "of that ancient maxim, by which v/e have 
turned even kings into instruments for their country's 
servitude''." 

^ Tacitus, Vita Agr. 12. " Cogidunus, or Cogidumnus, appears 
undeniably, from his name, to have been originally the Cogi or 
king of the Dobuni ; and from the national appellation of Rex or 
king, which is given him by Tacitus, appears equally lo have re- 
tained the same sovereignty under the Romans. Nor was this all. 
He was even invested by the Romans with the sovereignty of some 
other stales, which had probably lost the line of their princes in the 
prosecution of the war, and which were now subjected to the sceptre 
of the Dobuni. One of these was, undoubtedly, the Regni of Sussex 
and Surrey; and the rest must have been the nations that lay be- 
twixt the Dobuni and them, the two intervening tribes of the Attre- 
bates and the Bibroces. And this extended sovereignty, over a part 
of Warwickshire, over a considerable portion of Buckinghamshire, 
over nearly all Berkshire, absolutely over all Worcestershire, Oxford- 
shire, Gloucestershire, Surrey and Sussex, Cogidimus retained to the 
days of Trajan ; when not onl}- these coimties in particular, but 
when the whole extent of England and Wales, had been long moulded 
into the form of a province. This was allowed in the first and second 
centuries, and at the first modelling of the Roman conquests among 
us. And thus allowed at first, the British sovereigns must have 
equally continued through all the period of the Roman government 
afterwards." Whiltaker's Hist, of Manchester, book i. c. 8. pp. 
248, 249. Authors, who, like the writer of this passage, string together 
a number of probabilities, and reason upon them as if they were histo- 
rical facts, would do well to consider the remark which Mr. Clinton 
makes in the introduction to his Fasti Romani : " Where all evidence 
is wanting, it will become us to declare our ignorance, rather than to 
imitate those who treat a conjecture of what was possible, as if it 
were a record of what really happened." When the reader reflects, 
that in the description quoted in the text from Tacitus, he possesses 
all that has come down to us about Caractacus and Cogidunus, he 
will think it needless to remark, that the train of argument, in which 
the learned historian of Manchester indulges in the passage just 
({noted, is purely the creature of his own fertile imagination. 



A. D. 50 — 58.] REVERSES OF THE ROMANS. 91 

But, though the star of Caractacus had set in cap- 
tivity, and his pertinacity to defend the hberties of 
Britain no longer stood in the way of Ostorius Scapula's 
progress; that able general was doomed, in his turn, 
to experience the caprice of fortune. " Tlie course 
of his arms, which had hitherto been prosperous, began 
to assume a less decided character of success : whether 
it was that the removal of the captive king led the 
Romans to act with less vigour, as deeming the war at 
an end; or that the natives, in commiseration for their 
chieftain, were exasperated at his fate, and eager to 
avenge him. Suddenly, the prgefect of the Roman 
camp, with his legionaries, left to erect fortresses in 
the country of the Silures, were surrounded by the 
Britons, and, if they had not been reinforced from the 
nearest towns and castles, would have been cut ofl" to 
a man. Even as it was, the preefect, eight centurions, 
and all the flower of the ranks, were slain on the spot ; 
and not long afterwards a Roman foraging party, and 
a troop of horse, who went to their assistance, were 
defeated, and driven off the field. Ostorius detached 
some light cohorts to rally them, but the attempt would 
have failed, had not the legions come up in time to 
take part in the fight. Their weight and solidity 
restored the battle, wliich at last began to turn in 
favour of the Romans. The enemy fled, but with 
trifling loss, because night came on to cover their 
retreat. 

Alter this there was incessant fighting, generally of 
a praedatory character; sometimes the armies would 
meet in the woods, at other times in the midst of the 
marshes, according as chance or their own headlong- 
valour directed : many an engagement took place by 
accident, others again were the result of stratagem and 



92 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VII. 

military manoeuvre : many an expedition was contrived 
in order to revenge some previous defeat, whilst others 
were undertaken for the sake of plunder : these were 
sometimes ordered hy the generals, but as often were 
conducted without their knowledge. The Silures were 
the most pertinacious in their resistance, which was 
augmented by a remark of the Roman general, " that 
he would destroy the very name of the Silures out of 
Britain, in the same way as had been done formerly 
with the Sigambri, who had be'en transported to Gaul." 
These words inflamed the rage of the Silures : they 
assailed and cut off two cohorts of the auxiliaries, and 
by a liberal distribution of the captives and other 
booty, stirred up the other tribes to revolt also. In 
the midst of these events, Ostorius, overcome by the 
troubles which on every side beset him, departed this 
life^; and the Britons rejoiced at his death, not merely 
as much as if they had gained a battle, but rather as if 
the war was entirely at an end." 

The relief, however, which the natives experienced 
from the death of Ostorius, was of short duration : the 
emperor appointed in his stead Avitus Didius Gallus, 
who found that he was not likely to enjoy much ease 
in his government. The Roman cause was declining; 
the legion commanded by Manlius Valens had recently 
suffered a defeat; and the enemy magnified their 
success in the hope that it might discourage the new 
proprsetor. Didius himself was not unwilling to mag- 
nify it in the dispatches which he sent to Rome; for, if 
he should be victorious, his victory would be magnified 
also in proportion to its difficulty; and if he should fail, 
an excuse would be at hand in the arduous circum- 
stances which had surrounded him. But, though he 
' Tacit. Ann. xii. 39. 



A. D. 50 — 58.] VENUSIUS AND CARTISMANDUA. 93 

appeared to acknowledge the emergencies of his situ- 
ation, he set himself without delay to remedy the 
mischief, and marched against the Silures, from whom 
the defeat of his troops had proceeded. That warlike 
tribe were now defeated in their turn ; though sup- 
ported by Venusius chief of the Brigantes, and the 
most able general that appeared in Britain since the 
capture of Caractacus. This man was the husband of 
Cartismandua, and had been long an ally of the 
Romans, who protected him and his territories from 
the vengeance of hostile tribes : but at the time when 
Didius came to Britain, a division arose between 
Cartismandua and her husband, which at length burst 
out into a war between the queen and Venusius. At 
first the dispute was confined to the parties themselves, 
until Cartismandua, by stratagem, got the brother and 
other relations of Venusius into her power, and this 
inflamed the fury of the enemy, and stimulated them to 
an outbreak against the Romans, by whom Cartis- 
mandua was protected. Ashamed any longer to sub- 
mit to the rule of a woman, a chosen body of young 
men invaded her dominions ; but the friendly Romans 
had foreseen and provided for the contingency ; a body 
of their troops met the invaders, and when the conflict 
had long maintained a doubtful character, the discipline 
of the legions again prevailed, and the enemy were 
repulsed. About the same time another Roman legion, 
commanded by Ca;sius Nasica, encountered another 
British army, and met with similar success. In this 
manner Didius, an old man, and already burdened 
with honours, was content to check the enemy by 
the agency of his officers, without encountering them 
in the field himself. 

These campaigns lasted from the appointment of 



94 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VII. 

Ostorius Scapula in A.D. 50, to the end of the year 
58, when the old propr^tor Didms, by death or by 
the command of the emperor, was removed from his 
government: but in this interval the imperial throne 
had changed masters, and the weak Claudius'" given 



" The character of this singular emperov, a comhination of the 
most opposite qualities, has not yet been treated 'by writers with the 
attention which it seems to deserve. It is remarkable that the ])hilo- 
sopher Seneca, who was contemporary with Claudius, and suffered 
death in the reign of Nero, should have caused equal difficulty for 
future historians to ascertain his real character. By some he has 
been considered a false and sycophantic courtier, who made pretence 
of his philosophy to conceal his avarice, ambition, and many other 
ignoble qualities, whilst by others he is allowed to possess all the 
realities of that wise and good philosoph}^ of which he appears to 
have made the profession. Seneca's writings contain many notices of 
the emperor Claudius, some expressed in ironical terms, which we 
are left to interpret in the best way we can. Thus in his work 
entitled Consolation to Polybius, [chap. 32.] he has the following 
panegyrical expressions : 

" Fortune, withhold thy hand from touching him, shew not thy 
power in him, save in the direction which thou art taking. Suffer 
him to heal for a while the woes and distresses of mankind : allow 
him to restore to its place whatever the madness of the former prince 
had deranged. long be the duration of this luminary, which has 
shone upon the world at a moment, when it was plunged and sunk 
into an abyss of darkness! Let him ajipease Germany, and open 
Bi'itain to our arms : let him renew the triumphs of his father, and 
add fresh triumphs to the number." 

But in his satirical work, entitled, LuDUs de morte Claudii 
Cjesakis [8] the picture is reversed; "He [Claudius] put to death 
his son-in-law Lucius Silanus. Why, I w'ould ask ? Because he 
wished his sister, who was a most witty girl, and universally called 
Venus, to be called Juno instead. It is a trifle that he has a temple 
in Britain, and the barbarians there adore him as a God." 

Again, in the same work occur the following lines : 
The Britons he Beyond the sea 
And Brio-antes with azure shield. 



A. D. 54.] DIDIUS PROPRIETOR — NERO. 95 

place to a successor, whose imbecility was equal to his 
predecessors, whilst his brutal cruelty revived in the 
capital of the empire all the worst memorials of 
Caligula. 

Their ainns and lives. Their sons and wives 

To Roman chains compelled to yield. 
Where Ocean laves His swelling waves. 

The Roman axes there are known. 
Lament the man, Who only can 

Of all our countrymen alone. 
Pronounce the laws, Decide a cause. 

By hearing either side or none. 



CHAP. VIII. 



NERO'S CRUEL REIGN — THE BRITONS REVOLT UNDER BOADICEA : 
CAMALODUNUM, LONDON, AND VERULAM ARE BURNT — SUETONIUS 
PAULINUS RETURNS FROM ANGLESEY, AND DEFEATS THE BRITONS 
WITH IMMENSE SLAUGHTER. 



The son of Claudius, that young man, who, with 
his father, received from the Senate the title of Bri- 
tannicus, had been marked out as heir to the throne, 
when Agrippina, Claudius's second wife, paved the 
way for her own son Nero, by poisoning the hapless 
youth that was the only obstacle to her ambition. But 
under all the vicissitudes of human things, crime seldom 
fails to produce crime ; and to fulfil this law, we see 
children conspire against their parents, and the dearest 
ties of nature are snapped asunder. The crimes of 
Nero were so numerous, that the murder of his mother, 
to whom he owed his elevation to the throne, passes 
almost without notice. But the influence of such 
monstrous cruelty in the monarch was not unfelt in all 
the provinces of the empire : it stirred up the wild 
elements of avarice and tyranny in a multitude of 
officials; who expressly followed the example which 
Nero set them, and in their readiness of gain, were 
reckless of the suS'erings which the pursuit of it 
entailed on others. 

The Britons made less opposition to Claudius than 
they had made ninety-seven years before to Julius 



A. D. 58.] VERANIUS GOVERNOR. 97 

Caesar; because, probably, they had learnt in the 
interval how much superior the Romans were, in 
almost every particular, to themselves. Civilization not 
only brings with it enlightenment to the mind, and 
luxuries for the body, but creates wants, which crave 
to be gratified, and which effectually prevent the savage 
from relapsing into the narrow system to which his 
existence was previously limited. 

The government of Ostorius Scapula, and that of 
his successor Didius, were in general of a military 
character ; but arms and the arts are proverbially con- 
nected ; and whilst the more warlike Silures disputed 
inch by inch the possession of their native soil, the 
Brigantes and other tribes, yielding to the force of 
circumstances, had submitted to the yoke which was 
imposed on them, and by degrees adopting Roman 
manners, sunk into the form of a Roman province. 

It is needless to point out the evils which result in 
all cases from the frequent change of governors, and 
it is not improbable that to this cause may be in part 
attributed the tale of havoc and desolation which will 
now follow. The recital of these bloody wars would 
have been spared us, if Nero had fulfilled his intention 
of withdrawing the Roman army, and abandoning 
Britain ; but he was deterred from putting in practice 
this idea by a sense of the ignominy which would be 
cast upon him, if he gave up that which it had cost his 
predecessors so much toil to gain''. The old governor 
of Britain, Avitus Didius, was therefore replaced by 
Veranius, who like his predecessor was content to 
limit his military acbievements to one or two ex- 
peditions against the Silures. But Veranius died be- 
fore he had been a year in Britain, leaving behind him 

" Siieton. Vita NcroniSj c. lb. 
H 



98 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VIII. 

a high reputation for military cUscipUne, and a will full 
of adulation towards the emperor Nero. 

It was no unusual thing, in those days of tyranny on 
the one hand and of flattery on the other, for a subject 
to bequeath his property to the reigning prince : the 
favour of the emperor might thus be secured to the 
friends of the deceased, who might even derive benefit 
to himself, if he informed the emperor of his intentions, 
during the uncertain remainder of his life. But Vera- 
nius, having perhaps little else to give, assured the 
emperor in his last testament, that, if his life had been 
spared two years longer, the province of Britain would 
have been added by his arms to the countries which 
already formed the Roman empire". 

In the year 61, a furious insurrection broke out in 
Britain, which threatened to sweep away every trace of 
the Roman supremacy, and to restore the island to its 
original independence. The government of the pro- 
vince, since the end of A.D. 59, was in the hands of 
Suetonius Paulinus, a warlike and skilful general, 
whom the Roman people were wont to name as the 
rival of the celebrated Corbulo ; and Suetonius, eager 
to deserve the flattering approbation of his countrymen, 
speedily found himself in a situation, from which he 
gained as ample laurels as his rival from the conquest 
of Armenia. The enterprise from which he hoped to 
gain reputation to his arms was the conquest of the 
island of Mona or Anglesey, which, separated from the 
mainland of Britain by a boisterous though narrow 
strait, still maintained a sort of independence. The 
inhabitants of this island were a warlike race, and the 
annoyance, which the Romans experienced from them, 
proceeded principally from its being a place of refuge 
"^ Tacit. Ann. xiv. 29. 



A.D. 61.] SUETONIUS PAULINUS INVADES ANGLESEY. 90 

to fugitives and deserters. To invade and conquer 
this island was the design of Suetonius Panhnus, and 
to secure the debarkation of his troops upon an un- 
linown coast, and to protect them from any shallows 
which might be met with, he ordered a number of flat- 
bottomed vessels to bo constructed. In these he 
placed his foot soldiers, whilst the cavalry were to find 
their way over by fording the strait, or, if the water was 
too deep, to swim across, towing their horses. 

The expedition, for which these preparations were 
made, furnished a rude lesson in military tactics to the 
young Agricola, destined afterwards to reap such an 
ample harvest of glory from the fields of Britain. The 
commander, under whom he now for the first time 
served in the Roman armies, was a persevering and 
able general, remarkable neither for unnecessary auste- 
rity towards his soldiers, nor for feebly relaxing the 
reins of discipline ; and Agricola enjoyed the rare 
advantage of serving under him rather as a pupil than 
as a recruit, and was admitted to share the tent and 
domestic company of his generals 

Eighteen years after this his first campaign in 
Britain, Agricola gave his daughter in marriage to the 
historian Tacitus, who has left us a full account of the 
invasion of the isle of Anglesey, and of the bloody 
battle-fields in which his father-in-law had served. 
The narrative therefore from this point runs in the 
words of the historian". 

" The shore of the island was lined with the hostile 
army, in which were women dressed in dark and 
dismal garments, with their hair streaming to the wind, 
bearing torches in their hands, and running like furies 

= Tacit. Vila Agr. 0. 

"^ Tacit. Annal. xiv. 29—39. and Vit. Agiicolir, c. 9. 
H 2 



100 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VIII. 

up and down the ranks. Around stood the Druids, 
with hands spread to heaven, and uttering dreadful 
prayers and imprecations. The novelty of the sight 
struck our soldiers with dismay, so that they stood as 
if petrified, a mark for the enemy's darts. At length 
animated by the exhortations of their general, and 
encouraging one another not to fear an army of women 
and fanatics, they advanced upon the enemy, bore down 
all before them, and involved them in their own fires. 
The troops of the enemy were completely defeated, a 
garrison placed in the island, and the groves, which 
had been the consecrated scenes of the most barbarous 
superstitions, were levelled with the ground. It had 
been their practice to sacrifice on the altars prisoners 
taken in war, and to divine the pleasure of their Gods 
by inspecting human entrails. 

'' In the midst of these events, news was brought in 
haste to Suetonius, that a fierce rebellion had broken 
out through the whole province. The cause of the 
revolt was as follows, 

" Prasutagus was king of the Iceni, and died, leaving 
immense wealth. In order to place his kingdom and 
family out of the reach of insult, he left his riches to 
be divided between his two daughters and the Roman 
emperor. But this measure produced the very con- 
trary to what he had intended. His kingdom was 
overrun and pillaged by the Roman centurions, and 
his house by slaves and menials, as if both were the 
prize of war. His queen, Boadicea'', was scourged, 

" She is called Bonduica by Xiphilinus. a Greek writer, who in 
the twelfth century abridged the history of Dion Cassias. His 
account of the campaigns of Claudius agrees in almost every parti- 
cular with the narrative of Tacitus, but like most later writers he 
indulges in declamation and rhetorical display. 



A. B, 61.] REVOLT OF BOADICEA. 101 

and her daughters violated. The whole territory of 
the Iceni was looked upon as lawful plunder, their 
chiefs stripped of their hereditary estates, and the 
relations of the deceased king reduced to slavery. 
These outrages, and the anticipation that worse would 
follow, now that the country had heen reduced to the 
form of a Roman province, urged the people to take 
up arms^ 

" They reflected on the miseries attendant on servi- 
tude, and when they came to compare their several 
injuries, they heightened them tenfold by the repre- 
sentation. Tt was clear that passive submission would 
but encourage their oppressors to proceed to still 
greater lengths. Instead of one king, as they had 
formerly, they had now two, the lieutenant and his pro- 
curator; the former of whom exercised his tyranny over 
their persons, the latter over their goods: whether their 
governors were in harmony together or at variance, it 
was alike fatal to the unhappy subjects : the one 
oppressed them by his troops and his centurions, the 
other by his insolence and extortion. Nothing was 
now safe from their avarice or from their licentiousness. 
In battle it was the bravest or strongest man who 
carried off the spoil; but here the meanest-spirited 
and most contemptible of men entered and pillaged 

' XIphiliuus gives other reasons for tlie revolt of the Britons ; 
" The cause of the war was the sale of the property, which Claudius 
had given up to their chiefs, and which Deciauus Catus, the prtefect 
of the island, said it was necessaiy to recal. To this is to be added, 
that Seneca having lent iheni, against their will, a thousand myriads 
of money, in the expectation of benefit thence resulting, afterwards 
called in the whole sum at once, in a most violent and arbitrary 
manner." Xiphil. cpit. Dionis Cassii, 1 — 4. This account gives us 
a vivid picture of the mode in which conquerors, under forms of law 
and justice, plunder and impose ui)on llicir half-oivilizcd tribularies. 



102 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VIII. 

their houses, carried away the children, and made the 
natives enhst in the Roman armies, as if they were 
ready to die for any thing sooner than their country. 
If the Britons would but reflect on their own numbers, 
they would find that the Roman troops who were 
among them were but a paltry and inconsiderable 
force. By acting on these views Germany had ex- 
pelled the invaders, though defended by a river only, 
and not by the ocean. Their country, their wives and 
parents, should be so many motives to them to support 
a war, to which their enemies were urged only by 
avarice and luxury, and their iirmies would therefore 
retire, as the late Julius Csesar had done, if the 
Britons would but imitate the bravery of their 
ancestors, and not be discouraged by the issue of one 
or two battles; men who are in the midst of misery 
and suffering are more likely to be energetic, and 
their energy is more likely to be persevering ; more- 
over, the gods themselves have at last taken compassion 
on the Britons, and detached the Roman general with 
his army into another island, whilst themselves have at 
last got over the most difficult part of the business, 
namely, deliberating on what steps they should take; 
and they should remember that it was much more 
dangerous to be surprised whilst they were still deli- 
berating on their designs, than when they had once 
taken up arms to put them in execution «. 

" Encouraged by these considerations the Iceni took 
up arms, and engaged in their revolt the Trinobantes 
and other states not yet accustomed to subjection, with 
whom they entered into a solemn and secret compact 

^ This paragraph is extracted from Tacitus's " Life of Agricola," 
where he touches briefly upon the British campaign, which he ha? 
related at "reatcr lei)oih in the " Annals." 



A. D. 61.] COLONY OF CAMALODUNUM. 103 

to recover by arms their lost liberty. Their vengeance 
was directed mostly against the disbanded veterans who 
formed the colony planted at Camalodunum^ these men 
had driven the natives from their houses and lands, 
and bestowed upon them the opprobrious epithets of 
" slaves" and " captives ;" whilst the troops of the 
legions supported the veterans in their insolence, from 
a similarity of their habits, and because they hoped 
hereafter to enjoy the same licence. In addition to 
this, they looked upon the temple, which the Romans 
had built and dedicated to the Deified" Claudius, as a 
sort of citadel to keep them in perpetual bondage, and 
the priests who celebrated religious worship therein as 
so many harpies who lived upon the substance of the 
natives. It would be no difficult task, they fancied, to 
destroy the Roman colony, for it had no fortifications 
to protect it, an omission, into which the Romans were 
led by paying more attention to gratify their luxury 
than to provide for their public safety." 

In the midst of this excitement, the tendency of 
the Romans to believe in prodigies, of which throughout 
the whole period of their political existence they never 
dispossessed themselves, was fully manifested by the 
tales of omens and prognostications which were after- 
wards said to have happened ; but these like all other 
prophetic intimations arrived at maturity, only after 
the events which they were supposed to signify had 
actually happened, when it was easy to attach import- 
ance to trivial occurrences, which at other times would 
have passed without notice. 

'■ Divo Claiitlo, Tlic same word Diviis was fonucrly used by all 
Christians, and is still used by Roman Catholics, lo designate a Saint, 
as Divas Auyusthius, Divus Joannes, &c. It is not the only in- 
stance of the adoption of Heathen fonns into the Christian religion. 



104 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VIII, 

" At Camaloclunum the statue of Nero fell to the 
ground," says Tacitus, " and turned its back where the 
face had been, as if it fled before the enemy. 
Women were seen as if mad, singing wild songs, in 
which they foretold the destruction of the colony. 
Strange noises were heard in their House of Assembly, 
and loud bowlings in the theatre : in the Estuary of 
the Thames there was an appearance like that of a 
sunken town i the sea assumed a blood-red colour, 
and human forms appeared to be left on the shc^-e by 
the ebbing tide. All these things were of a nature to 
encourage the Britons, whilst they overwhelmed the 
veterans with terror'. 

" At this time Suetonius was far away^, and they were 
compelled to apply to Cutus Decianus the procurator 
for assistance. He sent them only two hundred men, 
very imperfectly armed, and to these were added a 
small body of soldiers belonging to the town. The 
temple of Claudius was used by these troops as a 
citadel, but their measures were thwarted by those 
around them who were privy to their revolt : so that 
they had neither dug a fosse nor cast up a mound to 
protect them, and the precaution, usual in such cases, 
of sending away the old men and women, and retaining 
only the young and active, had been entirely neglected: 
for they were taken by surprise in time of profound 
peace, and found themselves suddenly surrounded by 
the barbarians. Every thing but the temple was 
plundered and set fire to, and the temple itself, into 
which the soldiers had fled for refuge, was taken after 
two days' siege. The Britons, thus victorious, fell 
upon Petilius Cerealis, lieutenant of the ninth legion^ 
who was advancing to relieve Camalodunum, defeated 

' These piodigies are repeated almost verbatim by Xiphilinus. 



A. D. 61.] CAMALODUNUM AND VERULAM BURNT. 105 

them, and put all the infantry to the sword. The 
cavahy with the general himself escaped to their camp, 
and defended themselves within its entrenchments. 
The procurator Catus, aku'med at this defeat, and 
fearing to expose liimself to the resentment of the 
natives, whom his own avarice had excited to revolt, 
fled in haste, and crossed over into Gaul. 

" Meanwhile Suetonius, with astonishing resolution, 
marched through the midst of the enemy to London, 
which was not yet honoured with the name of a colony, 
hut considerable for the resort of merchants, and for 
its trade. Here hesitating whether he should make 
that town the seat of war, he considered how weak 
the garrison was, and, warned by the check given to 
Petilius' rashness, resolved to preserve the whole at 
the hazard of one town. Neither the tears nor lament- 
ations of the people imploring his assistance prevented 
him from giving the signal for marching, whilst he 
received into his army such as chose to follow him. 
All those whom the weakness of sex, infirmities of 
age, or attachment to the place, induced to stay behind, 
fell into the enemy's hands. The same calamity befel 
the municipal town of Verulam ; for the barbarians, 
neglecting the castles and garrisons, plundered the 
richest and most defenceless places, their principal 
object being booty. It appears that seventy thousand'* 
citizens and allies perished in the abovementioned 
places. For they never made prisoners to sell or 
exchange them, according to the practice of war. They 
regarded nothing but slaughter, hanging, burning, 
crucifying, as if they wanted to retaliate former punish- 
ments, and were eager to quench their tliirst for 
vengeance. Suetonius now saw himself at the head of 

•' Xii)hiliniis says, ' ciglity thoiisaiul." 



106 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VHI. 

the fourteenth legion, v*^ith the Vexillarii of the twentieth, 
and the aiixiharies from the nearest countries, amount- 
ing in all to near ten thousand regular troops, when 
he thought it advisable to advance, and come to a 
battle with all expedition. He made choice of a spot 
defended by defiles, and closed in the rear by a forest, 
convinced that no danger was to be apprehended from 
the enemy, who would make their attack in front, and 
that an open plain gave no apprehension of ambus- 
cades. The legionaries were drawn up in many deep 
ranks, the light armed troops disposed around in com- 
panies, and the flanks covered with tlie cavalry. The 
British troops bounded about in companies and troops, 
an innumerable multitude, and in such high spirits, 
that they brought their wives to be witnesses of their 
victory, and placed them in waggons stationed on the 
outer circuit of the plain. Boadicea, in a chariot with 
her daughters, as she came to the respective nations — ■ 
it being no unusual thing for the British armies to be 
commanded by women — declared to them that she con- 
sidered herself not as the descendant of noble an- 
cestors, possessed of the sovereignty and a large 
revenue, but as one of the community, prepared to 
avenge the loss of her liberty, the stripes inflicted on 
her body, and the dishonour done to her daughters, 
for that the Romans' desires were risen to such a 
height, that neither their persons, their age, nor their 
chastity, were safe : that the gods hov/ever favoured 
their just revenge; the legion which attempted an 
engagement was cut off; the rest concealed in their 
camp, or providing for their escape; that they would 
never stand the shouts and clamours of so many 
thousands, much less their shock and fury; that if tiiey 
considered the number of forces, or the causes of the 



A. D. 61.] SUETONIUS DEFEATS BOADICEA. 107 

war, they would resolve that day to conquer or die : 
this was the last resource for her, a woman ; let the 
men, if they pleased, live and be slaves. 

" Suetonius also was not silent in this critical con- 
juncture; l)ut though his chief confidence was in the 
bravery of his troops, he employed exhortations and 
entreaties also. He animated them to despise the noisy 
threats of the barbarians, whose numbers consisted 
more of women than of young men : such weak un- 
armed people would soon give way, when they felt the 
swords and valour of troops, by whom they had been 
so often defeated; that even in many legions the event 
of the battle was determined by a lew; and that it 
would augment their glory if so small a body acquired 
the same renown as a whole army; only he recom- 
mended to them to keep their ranks, and, after dis- 
charging their javelins, to continue the slaughter with 
shields and swords, regardless of booty : all being 
their own when once they had secured the victory. 

" The ardour of the soldiers kept pace with the ex- 
hortations of the general : so ready were the veterans 
at their arms, and so tried in many battles, that Sueto- 
nius, certain of the event, gave the signal for the 
charge. At first the legion maintained its ground with 
great resolution, and made use of the confined space 
of ground as a rampart. When the enemy came to 
close quarters, and all their weapons were discharged, 
they issued out as it were in form of a wedge. The 
auxiliaries made a like attack, and the cavalry with 
their lances in rest bore down all before them. The 
rest took to their heels, but were impeded in their 
escape by the ring of waggons, which blocked up the 
way. The soldiers did not spare the lives cveji of the 



108 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. VIII. 

women, and stabbed the very beasts ; thus adding to 
the heaps of slain. The glory of that day may rank 
with the most famous ancient victories ; for some 
affirm that no less than 80,000 Britons fell in this 
battle. About 400 of our soldiers were killed, and 
about the same number wounded. 

" Boadicea put an end to her life by poison ; and 
Poenius Posthumus, the camp-marshal of the second 
legion, hearing of the success of the fourteenth and 
twentieth, unable to support the reflection of having 
deprived his legion of the same renown, and disobeyed 
the general's orders contrary to the laws of war, threw 
himself on his sword. The army being now all collected 
together, was kept in the field in tents to put an end 
to the war. The emperor augmented the troops with 
2000 legionaries, eight cohorts of auxiliaries, and 1000 
horse from Germany. On their arrival, the ninth 
legion was recruited. The cohorts and other troops 
were placed in new winter quarters, and all the nations, 
whose inclinations were wavering or hostile, were 
ravaged by fire and sword. But the enemy suffered 
most from famine, for want of attention to the sowing 
of corn ; for whilst they were solely intent on prosecut- 
ing the war, they reckoned on our provisions; and 
these haughty people were slow in their advances to 
peace, because Julius Classicianus, who succeeded 
Catus, and disagreed with Suetonius, impeded the 
public interest by his private quarrels, and gave out 
that they must wait for a new general, who would treat 
those who submitted with lenity, without the resent- 
ment of an enemy or the haughtiness of a conqueror. 
At the same time he wrote to Rome, that there was no 
prospect of an end of the war, unless a successor was 



A. D. 62.] PETRONIUS TURPILIANUS. 109 

appointed to Suetonius, wliose miscarriages he ascribed 
to his ill conduct, and his good success to the fortune 
of the state. 

" Polycletus therefore, one of the emperor's freed- 
men, was sent to enquire into the affairs of Britain, for 
Nero flattered himself that his authority would not 
only restore harmony between the lieutenant and the 
procurator, but sooth the minds of the natives, and 
reestablish peace in the island. Polycletus crossed the 
sea with an immense train of followers, which encum- 
bered Italy and Gaul, and created no small alarm to 
our soldiers. But the enemy, flushed as they were with 
liberty, and strangers to the power which men some- 
times possess at courts, who have once been slaves, 
made a jest of such an agent, and were astonished at 
the respect which the army with their victorious 
general paid him. His report however to the emperor 
was favourable : Suetonius was continued in the com- 
mand, until, upon some ships being run ashore and 
the crews lost, he was ordered, as if the war still con- 
tinued, to resign the army to Petronius Turpilianus, 
who had just given up the consulship. Petronius was 
a more easy-tempered man, less acquainted with the 
faults of the enemy, and therefore more ready to over- 
look and forgive them, than Suetonius Paulinus." 

But our narrative must now leave Britain, and follow 
the course of events at Rome, that centre of action, 
whose influence was felt to the most distant province 
of the empire. 



CHAP. IX, 

THE EMPEROBS GALEA, OTHO, VITKLLIUS. — PETEONIUS TURPILIA- 
NUS, TEEBELLIUS MAXIMUS, AND VETTIUS BOLANUS, GOVERNORS 
OF BRITAIN. 



After fourteen years of tyranny, the emperor Nero 
was no less eager to gratify all the worst passions of 
human nature than he had been at the beginning of 
his reign : and, strange to say, the Roman people had 
not yet learnt to forget that the miscreant, who governed 
them, was the last descendant of the C^sars; for even 
when the intentions of the army were fully known, and 
it was manifest that the reign of Nero was at an end, 
he was suffered to depart from Rome, and in the 
privacy of his country-seat to inflict on himself that 
death which his crimes had so fully merited, but which 
none of the people of Rome, whom he had so often 
outraged, seemed disposed to administer. 

Galba , an old senator, and little qualified to sit on 
a throne, which would now hardly have been secure 
for Augustus, reigned seven months, from June 9, 
A.D. 68, to Jan. 15, A, D. 69'. His approach to 

" After the death of Caligula, Galba might have been his successor 
on the throne ; but he preferred the tranquillity of j^rivate life, and 
lost the imperial dignity for that time ; but in exchange for this, he 
gained the favour of Claudius, and was held by him in such esteem, 
that the British expedition was delayed for a short time, in conse- 
quence of Galba's trifling illness. Sueton. Gal. 7. 

'' See Clinton's Fasti Romani, and the authorities there quoted. 



A.D. 63 — 68.] PETRONIUS— TREBELLIUS MAXIMUS. Ill 

Rome was stained by the blood of two eminent Romans, 
Cingonius Varro, consul elect, and Petronius Turpilia- 
nus, who had been the successor of Suetonius Paulinus 
in the government of Britain. Petronius was accused 
of no crime, but as a general who had adhered to the 
cause of Nero, and therefore perhaps dangerous, he 
was doomed to death ; and as he was punished without 
a trial, he was deemed to have died innocent : but 
where there is no ground for an accusation, and the 
forms of justice would have been a mockery, it is a 
consolation to a brave man to know, that he owes his 
fate to the arbitrary dictates of a brutal tyrant, rather 
than to the solemn award of his fellow citizens. 

In his administration of Britain, Turpilianus had 
shewn himself possessed of qualities that rendered him 
well suited to the office which he filled. The fierce 
tide of rebellion, which Suetonius so successfully 
stemmed at its height, had not entirely subsided, and 
the minds of the natives were still susceptible of 
agitation. The propraetor however, by his mild and 
gentle conduct, soothed them into submission ; and as 
they were equally indisposed as he to act on the side of 
aggression, the government of Turpilianus passed 
away without bloodshed: "but this, according to 
the harsh and selfish maxim of the Romans, was a 
stain upon the character of a general, and it is the 
expression of Tacitus, that the propraetor assumed the 
guise of a peace-maker to cover the ignoble indolence 
of his natural disposition. Thus, some time before 
the death of Nero, Petronius Turpilianus resigned his 
province to his successor Trebellius Maximus. 

But Trebellius was, in the words of the same writer, 
still more inactive than Petronius; he was little versed 
in the afl'airs of a camp, and ruled his province with 



112 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. IX. 

moderation and affability. History relates that the 
barbarians in Britain had accustomed themselves to 
vices which exhibited an attractive exterior, and that 
the remissness with which the Roman general shewed 
in neglecting all views of conquest, derived some ex- 
cuse from the civil wars which disturbed the empire. 
Three emperors, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, reigned 
in the latter part of the year 68, and the beginning of 
69, public schemes of aggrandisement in Britain were 
suspended, and the soldiers, no longer occupied in 
military expeditions, spent their days in indolence. 
The cause of their inactivity was the intervening 
ocean, which has so often saved Britain, in spite of the 
infatuation or ambition of its rulers, from suffering by 
the wars and convulsions which have disturbed the 
continent of Europe. That the Roman legions quar- 
tered in our island had learnt, by the frequency of their 
wars against the natives, to reserve for them the 
enmity which elsewhere was directed against their 
fellow-subjects, might furnish Tacitus with a mode of 
finishing a well-rounded period, but cannot be received 
as an explanation of the calm which Britain at this 
time enjoyed. No where in the whole empire did the 
legions conduct themselves with greater moderation 
during the whole of those disturbed times ; and every 
interval of peace, however short, helps to consolidate 
over a newly-acquired territory the chains of conquest : 
but the propraetor's own conduct was not in all points 
without reproach. His avarice and meanness rendered 
him an object of contempt and hatred to his soldiers, 
a circumstance, we may observe, which might have 
produced much good to the natives, by destroying 
the unity between the leader and his troops, which 
elsewhere often suggested bold and seditious enter- 



A. D. 69.] CIVIL WARS AT ROME. 113 

prizes. The aversion of the soldiers for their general 
was heightened by Roscius Coelius, the lieutenant of 
the twentieth legion, who had an old grudge against 

Trebellius, to which he now during the civil arms 

ventured to give utterance. The general laid the 
blame of the sedition and neglect of discipline on 
Coelius, who in turn charged Trebellius with defrauding 
and impoverishing his soldiers. These disgraceful 
quarrels brought both the commanders into utter con- 
tempt with their men. Their differences rose to such 
a height, that the auxiliary troops cried shame upon 
them, and the whole army, both cavalry and infantry, 
taking part with Coelius, the governor, deserted by 
every body, abandoned Britain, and made the best of 
his way to the court of Vitellius. 

After his departure, the lieutenants of the different 
legions took the government into their own hand, and 
managed it between them ; but Coelius, by his insolent 
and overbearing manner, possessed more influence than 
the others in the administration of the province''. 

This state of things was, however, of no long con- 
tinuance. The contest for empire lay principally 
between the parties of Galba and Vitellius, for Otho, 
though he is by courtesy placed between his two rivals 
in the order of the Roman emperors, was speedily 
defeated and slain by Vitellius on the plains of Bebria- 
cum. The accession of the British Proprietor Tre- 
bellius, seems to have b^en of no great advantage to 
the cause of Vitellius; for he came unaccompanied by 
followers ; but a large number of men from Britain had 
already joined the different candidates for empire in the 
civil war which was raging between the parties. Sue- 
tonius Paulinus, with the fourteenth legion, which had 

" Tacit. Hist. i. 09—61. 

1 



114 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CHAP. IX. 

borne with him their share of danger and honour in 
Britain, had joined the side of Otho^ VitelKus also 
had drawn eight thousand soldiers "^ from our island; 
which, though in all ages seated aloof from continental 
wars, was thus early appreciated as a nursery from 
which men might be enlisted to feed the wars which 
ravaged the continent. 

A body of men had been fetched from Britain in the 
reign of Nero ; and when Viteliius, by the victory at 
Bebriacum, found himself apparently secure of the 
throne, many parts of Europe suffered from the bands 
of soldiers belonging to the vanquished army, which 
roamed over it, and ravaged it in all directions. 
Amongst others, the fourteenth legion loudly asserted 
that " they were still unconquered, that it was only the 
inferior troops who had recoiled at Bebriacum, the 
legionaries were unsubdued ''I" 

A fearful instance of military license occurred at 
Turin. A Batavian soldier charged an artisan with 
imposing upon him. A soldier of the legions took the 
part of the mechanic, at whose house he lodged : other 
soldiers joined in the quarrel which ensued, until from 
words they came to blows; and a fierce battle was 
about to begin; when two praetorian cohorts espoused 
the part of the legionaries, who belonged mostly to the 
fourteenth, and awed the Batavians into submis- 
sion. But Vitellius, approving the conduct of the 
Batavians, united them to his own body guard, and 
ordered the legion to cross beyond the Alps by a 
circuitous route to avoid Vienne, where there were also 
apprehensions of a tumult. When night came on, the 
legionaries began their march, leaving their fires 

"> Tacit. Hist. ii. 31, 32. « Tacit. Hist. ii. 67. 

^ Tacit. Hist. ii. 65, Q6, 



A. D. 69.] VETTIUS BOLANUS PR0PRJ::T0R. 115 

burning, by which part of Turin was burnt to the 
gTound : but this calamity attracted Httle notice, amid 
the greater scenes of havoc and destruction by which it 
was echpsed. When the legion descended the Alps 
on the other side, the most daring of the soldiers 
marched to Vienne; but, as no one seconded their 
movement, tranquillity was restored. 

By these and similar causes, the mind of Vitellius 
was much harassed, and to relieve the country from its 
oppressors and himself from farther alarm, the roving 
bands of soldiers, including the fourteenth legion, were 
again transported into Britain, leaving for history to 
record the lesson which perhaps mankind will still 
refuse to learn or to profit by, how nearly connected is 
human glory with human ignominy. The same corps, 
which earned by the defeat of Boadicea unfading- 
laurels, and the loudest panegyrics of their country- 
men, was within eight years sent back in dishonour to 
the remote scene of their triumphs by their fellow- 
subjects, to whom they had become objects of alarm. 

The reign of Vitellius was almost as short as that of 
his two predecessors: but he did not neglect to appoint 
a successor to Trebellius in Britain. The choice fell 
on Vettius Bolanus", one of the immediate attendants 
of the emperor; and it is equally difficult to determine 
the character of his administration as in the case of 
his three immediate predecessors. " It was too mild," 
says Tacitus, " for so fierce a province : and Agricola, 
who was still serving in Britain, checked the ardour of 
his own martial disposition, that he might not be sus- 
pected of disobedience or of disaffection towards his 
commander-in-chief." The government of Bolanus 
was similar to that of his predecessors in its brevity 

" Tacit, flist. ii. 60, (Ki. 

I 2 



116 HISTORY OF THE ANCIEKT BRITONS. [CH. IX. 

also ; for the civil wars were not yet ended, and Vitellius 
was about to be cast from the throne by a more able 
competitor, who had long by his virtues and merits 
been laying a foundation for the greatness of his 
family. 

Flavius Vespasianus, and his son Titus, had long been 
known to the Roman armies, and were favourites with 
all military men throughout the empire. Influenced no 
doubt by ambition and a consciousness of superiority 
to Vitellius, Vespasian did not suffer the new sovereign 
to remain long at peace. He at once struck for the 
throne, and his partisans dispatched emissaries to invite 
the Roman armies to answer to the appeal. Messen- 
gers crossed over to Britain, others hastened into Spain, 
the one to stir up the fourteenth legion stationed in 
our island, the other to incite the soldiers of the first 
legion, with which the peninsula was garrisoned, to 
espouse their part. Both these corps had sided with 
Otho, and both still harboured enmity to Vitellius. By 
the friends of the emperor also, levies were made in 
Germany, Spain, and Britain, but slowly and ineffec- 
tually, for Vitellius wished, if possible, to conceal from 
himself the danger which menaced him. On the other 
hand, the governors of provinces had already learnt to 
hesitate, and to look sharply round them at the appear- 
ance of things, when summoned by their imperial 
masters to assist them in their repeated contests for 
sovereignty: hence whilst other governors wrote back 
to Rome such answers as the peculiar circumstances 
suggested, Bolanus excused himself from immediately 
obeying the summons of Vitellius by the unquiet and 
intractable nature of the people which he governed'. 

Meanwhile, Csecina occupied Cremona for Vitellius, 
f Tacit. Hist. ii. 97. 



-A.D. 69.] VITELLIUS — VESPASIAX. 117 

and we find in his train a portion of the fourteenth 
legion, the vexillarii, as they were termed, who had 
not heen sent back with the legionaries into Britain. 
A large number of men from three other British 
legions were with Csecina, partly no doubt Roman 
soldiers from the first, and partly native Britons, who 
had enlisted in the Roman armies *". But the partisans 
of Vespasian were too rapid for Vitellius, whose cha- 
racter, since his accession to the purple, had taken a 
most singularly indolent turn. Whilst still a subject, 
he seemed to possess talents if not virtues, which 
enabled him, as was shewn by the result, to gain the 
throne; but no sooner was he seated thereon, than he 
became indolent, debauched, and gluttonous to an ex- 
traordinary degree. The revolt, as it was called, of 
Vespasian, seemed to paralyse the movements of Vitel- 
lius, though a large portion of the Roman army were 
supposed to be still in his interests, and as yet so un- 
certain which side to take, that they caused even the 
adherents of Vespasian to pause. Some of the revolted 
councillors advised that the war should be protracted, 
and they particularly spoke highly of the German 
legions, and of the flower of the British troops, who 
were advancing under the banners of Vitellius. In 
reply to these arguments, it was urged by those who 
advised speedy measures, that " delay would be their 
ruin, and the very salvation of Vitellius, whose army, 
plunged for the moment into a vortex of dissipation 
and enervated by enjoyment, since the victory over 
Otho, would resume its wonted vigour, if time was 
allowed them, and that Germany was close at hand 
with reinforcements, and Britain separated by a narrov/ 
strait '\ Amid these deliberations, the Romans in Britain 
declared with one voice for Vespasian, whose merits as 

' Tacit. Hist, ii. 100. ■■ Torit. Hist. iii. 1, 2. 



118 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. IX. 

a soldier they had all witnessed, and whose amiability 
of character most of them had experienced. Officers 
and private men eagerly espoused his cause, and were 
the first to raise that cry in his favour, which in an 
incredibly short space of time was echoed by all 
Europe. 

But whilst these events divided the interests and 
distracted the attention of the Romans, they were 
again brought to the verge of losing their power in 
Britain by the pertinacity of the natives. The discord 
between Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, and 
her husband Venusius, still continued : and the queen, 
not content with the haughtiness which she had ex- 
hibited towards her husband as well as to others, 
since the capture of Caractacus, at last set aside Venu- 
sius altogether, and took his armour-bearer, Vellocatus, 
to be the partner of her bed and throne. The scandal 
of this act roused even the other members of the royal 
family. Public opinion was in favour of the injured 
husband; but the intruder was supported by the love 
and arbitrary power of the queen. Venusius assailed 
her with all the auxiliary troops he could procure, in 
addition to the revolted Brigantes, and Cartismandua 
was brought into a situation of great danger. She was 
obliged to ask assistance from the Romans, and a body 
of men, consisting both of foot and horse, was dis- 
patched to her succour. After several battles, they 
rescued the queen from her perilous position, but the 
whole kingdom remained in the power of Venusius : 
whilst the Romans found themselves with a fresh war 
upon their hands, and their possession of Britain was 
again in almost as critical a state as in the days of 
Ostorius Scapula, or Suetonius Paulinus'. 

Such was the progress of British affairs during the 
' Tacit. Hist. iii. 44, 45. 



A.D. 70.] VESPASIAN EMPEROU. 119 

reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, The accession of 
Vespasian to the imperial throne produced a change 
beneficial to his own subjects, but fatal to the liberties 
of Britain. 



CHAP. X. 



THE BEIGNS OF VESPASIAN, TITUS, AND DOMITIAN — PETILIUS CERE- 
ALIS, JULIUS FRONTINUS, AND JULIUS AGRICOLA, PROPRIETORS OF 
BRITAIN — WARS OF AGRICOLA, DEFEAT OP GALGACUS, AND THE 
CALEDONIANS — FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE ROMAN PROVINCE IN 
BRITAIN, 



The governors of our island, whilst it was slowly 
yielding to the Roman arms, and gradually merging 
in their empire, had little time for rest or enjoyment, 
which was incompatible with the unruly conduct of the 
natives. Neither do they appear to have received 
from their countrymen a due share of honours or 
emolument for their services in reducing so refractory 
a province to submission. Few of them were suffered 
to remain more than two years, and many of them but 
a few months, in office. The accession of Vespasian 
to the empire was soon followed by a change in the 
proprsetorship. The short administration of Vettius 
Bolanus was marked by no military expedition against 
the enemy, and the conduct of the legions was not 
free from occasional disorder and licentiousness. The 
governor, unstained by acts of harshness and oppres- 
sion, was little disposed to tighten the bands of disci- 
pline, so that what he lost in authority, was made up 
for by the attachment of his soldiers \ 

His successor was Petilius Cerealis, the same whose 
legion had been cut to pieces on their march to relieve 
" Tacit. Vit. Aaric. 20. 



A. D. 70.] CEREALIS PROPRIETOR. 121 

Camalodununi''. His favourite officer was Julius 
Agricola, who commanded the twentieth legion. To 
this post he had been appointed, whilst Vettius Bolanus 
was still propraetor, by Mucianus, the principal minister 
of Vespasian. The twentieth legion was slow to take 
the oath of allegiance to the new emperor, and its late 
commander was suspected of seditious intentions. To 
bring them to a sense of their duty was the task 
assigned to Agricola, and his endeavours were crowned 
with success ; for he chose to appear ignorant of their 
disaffection, and by giving them credit for being obe- 
dient and well conducted, he speedily brought them to 
become so in reality''. 

A virtuous friendship subsisted between Agricola 
and the new propraetor. Cerealis shared with Agricola 
all the toils and dangers of the campaign; but, what 
was more uncommon, he shared with him its honours 
also : not unfrequently would he divide the army, and 
try the talents of his friend, by giving him a separate 
command. The result justified the confidence of the 
general; and when Agricola's success had thus war- 
ranted it, a larger number of men was given, and 
Agricola in this manner increased his military expe- 
rience by expeditions against an enemy, over whom he 
was destined soon to acquire a great and lasting- 
triumph. Meanwhile, as he was subordinate in com- 
mand, the moderation of the officer equalled his skill 
as a commander: the credit of all his exploits was 
referred to the source from which his authority was 
derived; and as his superior officer was liberal in 
giving him the applause which he deserved, Agricola 
had already gained a reputation which pointed him out 

'' See page 104. ' Tacit. Vit. Agric. 7. 



122 HISTOKY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

as a fit instrument for discharging those services which 
he afterwards rendered to the state. 

The acts of Petilius CereaHs were hmited to a few 
expeditions against the Brigantes, the largest of the 
British tribes, and still in a disturbed state, since the 
discord between Cartismandua and Venusius. The 
propraetor defeated their troops, and brought part of 
their country to submission : the rest was still in a 
state of war, when Cerealis was recalled*^, leaving 
behind him a high opinion of what he was qualified to 
do rather than of what he had done. To him suc- 
ceeded Julius Frontinus, who filled without disgracing 
it the place to which he had been appointed ; and this 
was the more creditable to him, as he had to sustain a 
comparison with his predecessor. Under his adminis- 
tration the valiant tribe of the Silures was reduced to 
submission, an exploit of no small difiiculty ; for the 
mountain-fastnesses of Wales, where the Silures dwelt, 
have always presented as much opposition to an 
invader as the bravery of the inhabitants. 

Such are the accounts which history has left to us 
of the progress of the Roman armies in Britain down 
to A.D. 78, one hundred and thirty-three years 
after the first attempt of Julius Csesar, and thirty-five 
years after its reputed conquest by Claudius. And 
yet at the period to which we have arrived, the sub- 
jection of the island was incomplete. Nothing can 
more strongly shew the stubborn spirit of the natives 
than their protracted resistance to the invaders. Battle 
after battle had been lost, but many of their tribes were 
still unsubdued : and it is evident that some master- 
mind was still wanting to place the Roman power on 

^ Joseph. B. Jud. vii. 4. 



A. D. 78.] AGRICOLA PROPRIETOR. 123 

the same footing which it occupied in the other king- 
doms that formed their empire. 

Such a leader at last appeared in the famous Agri- 
cola. A large portion of his early life had passed in 
Britain ; it was here that his military reputation had 
been gained, and his military genius formed. His 
private character also was so good, that he deserved to 
be spoken of with praise even by the people, whom he 
conquered: -and if a gallery was to be adorned with 
the likenesses or statues of British worthies, it would 
be by no means inconsistent or inappropriate to place 
that of Agricola among them, though his arms were 
directed against our own countrymen. The aflfec- 
tionate care of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, 
has left us an account of his life, which has given 
pleasure and instruction to all succeeding generations. 
His exploits in Britain embrace the period of seven 
years, between the recal of Frontinus in A.D. 78, and 
the end of the year A. D. 84. 

The summer of the year 78 '' was more than half 
passed away, when Agricola crossed over to assume the 
government of Britain. The Roman troops were 
indulging in ease and security, supposing that the 
season for action was past, and the Britons were look- 
ing out for an opportunity to strike a blow. Not long- 
before his arrival, the Ordovices had almost entirely 
destroyed a troop of cavalry, quartered in their terri- 
tories : by this first flush of success, the province was 
excited to a great degree, and all who wished for war, 
praised the example of the Ordovices, or waited to see 
how the new lieutenant would act. 

The summer was far advanced, large numbers of the 

" The rest of lliis diaptcr is liulo more than a pavaphva'^c of 
Tacitus. 



124 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

troops dispersed throughout the province, and there 
was every confidence in the minds of the soldiers that 
war would not be resumed that year. All this caused 
delay, and opposed much difficulty to the renewal of 
the campaign : some also thought it the wisest plan to 
keep an attentive eye on those parts of the country 
which were suspected : but Agricola determined at 
once to anticipate their designs, and to meet the danger 
half way. For this purpose he assembled the legions, 
together with a small number of the auxiliaries, and 
because the Ordovices would not come down to meet 
him in a fair field, he led his army up into the moun- 
tains against them, that by this boldness he might 
inspire the rest with equal courage in a similar emer- 
gency. Almost all the tribe were put to the sword, 
for Agricola knew that it was necessary to strike a 
severe blow at first, if he wished the result of the cam- 
paign to be successful. His next measure was to 
subdue the isle of Mona or Anglesey, where Paulinus 
was carrying on the war, when he was recalled by the 
news that all Britain was in rebellion. But to accom- 
plish this design, it was necessary to have vessels, 
which in the uncertainty of Agricola's plans, had not 
been provided. But the skill and perseverance of the 
general enabled him to surmount this difficulty. Cer- 
tain of the auxiliary troops, who were acquainted with 
the fords, and had in their own country been used to 
swimming on horseback, were selected, and ordered to 
put aside their knapsacks and baggage. When all 
was ready, they plunged into the water so suddenly, 
that the enemy, who had expected nothing else than a 
whole fleet of ships to transport the army, were terrified 
at the sight, and took to flight, convinced that it was 
useless to oppose troops who came to battle in that 



A. D. 78.] AGRICOLA's REFORMS. 125 

manner, without being deterred by any obstacle. In 
this way all resistance being hopeless, peace was 
asked, and the island was surrendered to the Romans. 
This success added nev/ honours to Agricola, whose 
praises were in every body's mouth, lor having suc- 
cessfully finished a most dangerous expedition at a 
season of the year, which other generals devote to ease 
and activity, and this too, when he was but just arrived 
from Rome to enter upon his government. But the 
moderation of Agricola was as great as his talents and 
his success : he thought it not worthy of tiie name of 
victory to have punished the audacity of the conquered 
Britons, and to have checked their rebellion. In 
accordance with this modesty of character, the letters 
which he dispatched to Rome were not wreathed in 
laurels, as those of other victorious generals were; 
and forbearance was in this case rewarded, for his 
praises were sounded infinitely louder than before, and 
from his silence about achievements which other men 
would have been proud of, the Roman people formed 
most extravagant expectations of the future. 

By this time he had some insight into the character 
and temper of those whom he governed, and had seen 
abundant instances of the folly of ruling by the sword, 
unless the public measures are characterized by equity 
and justice. In the task of reformation therefore he 
began with reforming his own household, which many 
persons find as hard a task as to govern a province. 
In the first place he allowed no public business to be 
transacted by the agency of freedmen or slaves, and 
admitted none of his soldiers to favour from private 
motives, or from the interest or reconmiendations of 
the centurions, but reposed trust and confidence 
wherever lie discerned merit. Nothing passed in the 



126 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

army without his knowledge, though he forbore to 
meddle in many things. If his men committed trifling 
faults, he forgave them at once, but serious offences 
were severely punished. He delighted to see them 
repentant rather than to see them punished ; and was 
more desirous to promote to charges and appointments 
such men as would not be guilty of faults, than to 
condemn them when they had offended. To lighten, 
as much as possible, the necessary exaction of forage 
and of tribute, he laid the public burdens equally on all, 
abolishing all such offices as were invented for profit 
only, and were submitted to more reluctantly than the 
tribute itself. 

. These abuses were all reformed by Agricola in the 
first year of his administration, and thus his peaceful 
labours produced happiness to those under him, as 
his military campaigns had before given them security. 
Six months had scarcely elapsed since he had entered 
on the duties of his office, and in that short period 
things in Britain were entirely changed, and began to 
assume a brighter and settled aspect. 

The year 79 brought with it a renewal of labours 
and of triumph. The summer, which was then the 
only time for military expeditions, had hardly begun, 
when Agricola was already busy: he assembled his 
men, bestowed reward and censure on all, where each 
was merited, marked out with his own hand the mili- 
tary camp, and reconnoitred with his own eyes the 
forests and estuaries which might impede the march 
of his troops, or furnish a place of ambush to the 
enemy. The Britons meanwhile had no respite from 
his vigilance, but suffered by sudden inroads and 
unforeseen devastations of their territory. When by 
these alarms he had driven them to extremities, he 



A. D. 79.] TITUS EMPEROR. 127 

withdrew his troops, and by extraordinary lenity en- 
deavoured to tempt them to make peace. Tliis con- 
duct was in many cases successful: several of the 
tribes, which to that day had kept aloof, and main- 
tained their independence, laid aside all further thoughts 
of war, gave hostages for their future good behaviour, 
and submitted to have their towns garrisoned by the 
Romans. 

Whilst things were in this flourishing condition, the 
emperor Vespasian died on the 25th of June, 79, and 
the crisis, so dangerous in general to an absolute 
monarchy not yet settled upon an hereditary basis, 
passed off in tranquillity by the peaceful accession of 
Vespasian's son Titus, a man less noted perhaps for 
views of wary and settled prudence, but on the whole 
a no less great and virtuous character than his father. 
The laudable career of Agricola therefore suffered no 
interruption from the interference of a meddling suc- 
cessor to the throne, and the latter part of the year 
passed away in a continuance of the same peaceful 
arts which always occupied Agricola during the period 
of military inactivity. He now saw the necessity of 
adopting some line of policy, by which the fierce 
passions of the Britons might be weaned from the 
unsettled state of war and tumult to which tliey were 
habituated, and led to adopt the pursuits of peace and 
the refinements of civilization. This end, he saw, 
could only be obtained by giving them a relish for the 
fine arts, and a taste for elegant pleasures. Tliese 
views he took care to disseminate in private conver- 
sation with his officers, and to inculcate on public 
occasions. He encouraged them to erect temples for 
public worship, market-places for the transaction of 
business, and private houses of a more costly and 



128 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

luxurious construction than had yet been seen in 
Britain. Those who entered readily into these views, 
and engaged in the erection of such edifices, met with 
his hearty commendation ; and those who neglected to 
follow his instructions, found themselves the objects of 
his well-deserved censure. Thus emulation was created 
in the province, and it produced generally the effect of 
obligation. 

Whilst Agricola thus directed his attention to pro- 
mote the welfare of all classes of his subjects, the chiefs 
were made more especially the objects of his paternal 
care : he had their sons instructed in the liberal arts, 
and was soon rewarded for his pains by the discovery, 
as he himself expressed it, that the genius of the Britons 
was preferable to the acquirements of the Gauls; and in 
a very short time these apt scholars, who a few years 
before had treated with contempt the language of their 
conquerors, and would not learn it, began to pay atten- 
tion to the Roman oratory, and to study elocution. A 
taste soon began to prevail for the Roman dress also, 
and the toga came into general use among them. By 
degrees they adopted all the Roman manners: the use 
of the bath was introduced with other customs, porticos 
rose to ornament the fronts of their houses, and to yield 
their welcome covering from the summer's sun and from 
the winter's cold : the interiors were decorated with splen- 
did tables, and other costly furniture. And it would have 
been well for them if their imitation had been confined 
to such things as these : but we are credibly informed, 
that the provincials soon adopted the worst vices also 
of their new nicisters; for vices entered largely at that 
time into the Roman civilization, and as an instrument 
of slavery, helped to accomplish the purpose for which 
they were intended — to enervate the minds of the 



A. D. 80.] AGRICOLA ERECTS FORTRESSES. 129 

Britons, and deprive them of every wish for independ- 
ence, or hope of Hberty! 

And these occupations the second year of Agricola's 
administration wore away, and the third spring, of the 
year A.D. 80, advanced, bringing with it a new series 
of expeditions, campaigns, and battles, by whicli the 
frontiers of the Roman province were extended, and 
the aboriginal tribes driven still further towards the 
north. The excursions of the army extended as far as 
the estuary of the Tay, and spread such a panic among 
the enemy, that they seldom or ever dared to come to 
an engagement, even though the Roman troops suffered 
greatly from the severity of the weather. It is, however, 
a painful task to record the unpitying progress which 
a powerful people like the Romans, provided with every 
thing that art or science could furnish, thus made 
against an inferior race, who had nothing but their 
valour to present to the panoply of their enemies, 
nothing but their half-naked bodies to be the bulwark 
of their wives' and children's and country's freedom. 
Such has been too often the melancholy tale which 
history has to tell us; though it is not always the 
province of history to record such bright virtues and 
humanizing influences as those which followed close 
upon the battle-fields of Agricola ! 

His soldiers availed themselves of the pause allowed 
them by the terror of the enemy to erect fortresses all 
over the country, and those who were experienced in 
such matters remarked, that they had never known a 
general who made a more discreet choice of his ground : 
no casde built by Agricola was ever taken by the enemy, 
or surrendered to them through fear, or by capitulalioii. 
These fortresses were supplied with fresh troops every 
year, so that they were proof against a siege however 

K 



130 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

long, and were always in a condition to send out troops 
and make inroads on the enemy. Thus the winter 
passed away in perfect security : the castles were built 
in such a way as to communicate, and so make mutual 
defence; this disappointed the enemy, and drove them 
to despair; for they had hitherto been used to regain 
in the winter the ground which they lost in the summer; 
and now they found themselves hard pressed at all 
seasons of the year alike. Agricola communicated the 
honour of these successes to all his soldiers with favour 
or reserve: every officer of every rank, superior or 
subaltern, prsefect or centurion, found in their general 
a faithful witness of their bravery. By some indeed he 
was thought a little too severe in his censures; for, as 
his behaviour was most mild and courteous to all who 
well conducted themselves, so he was severe and perhaps 
harsh towards those who neglected their duty; but he 
made it his rule never to give way to anger and sudden 
passion. His manner also was always free and open; 
his silence never proceeded from reserve, so that no 
one ever entertained fears from it, or was left in uncer- 
tainty: for he would always rather speak plainly at 
once, with the risk of giving offence, than secretly 
nourish resentment in his breast. 

The fourth campaign [A.D. 81.] produced no new 
accession of territory to the Roman province, but was 
spent in securing the country acquired the year before ; 
though the valour and spirit of the army were still so 
high, that the least impulse from their leader would, we 
are assured, have carried them to the furthest shores 
of Britain. Between the two friths of Clota and Bo- 
dotria, [the Clyde and Forth,] which run up from the 
oceans on the opposite sides of Britain, the land is 
contracted to an interval of little more than forty miles: 



A. D. 81.] DOMITIAN EMPEROR. 131 

a chain of fortresses was here built to cut off all commu- 
nication between the north and south; and thus those 
of the Britons who still preserved their independence 
among the northern Highlands, were confined, as it 
were, in another island. In strengthening these frontier- 
garrisons, and occupying the bays and inlets which 
are connected with them on the east and west, the 
year 81 glided fast away: but it removed also from 
his earthly career the emperor Titus, whose death 
occurred on the fifteenth of September, and left the 
throne to the fearful possession of his brother Domitlan. 
The change of emperors, however, produced no imme- 
diate change in Britain. Agricola was tacitly confirmed 
in the government of a province, where his successes 
had procured to Titus for the fifteenth time the salu- 
tation of Imperator ! 

The fifth year opened with an enterprise of a different 
character from any hitherto undertaken in Britain. 
The hardy inhabitants of the north, in the fastnesses 
of their mountain-district, presented unusual obstacles 
to the advance of the victorious legions: but the sea 
was still open to Agricola, and he determined now to 
avail himself of his navy to reconnoitre and perhaps 
conquer the northern tribes. In this way also he per- 
haps hoped to solve a long agitated question, whether 
the new world which his great predecessor Julius 
CsBsar had first visited, was really an island, or joined 
by some unknown tract of land to the northern coun- 
tries of Europe. In pursuit of these schemes, his 
fleet was got ready, and his troops were wafted with 
little trouble, and with no opposition, among tribes 
which they had not hitherto met with. Several of 
these people were reduced to submission, and a Roman 
garrison placed far off to the west, where the coast of 
k2 



132 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [cil. X. 

Scotland looks towards Ireland, not from any appre- 
hension of danger from that distant and miknown 
country, but merely as a means of pushing the Roman 
conquests still further, and perhaps of conquering 
Ireland itself: for the position of that island appeared 
advantageous for opening a commerce with Spain and 
the western coasts of Gaul; in addition to which it was 
supposed more accessible to the ships of those times, 
than Britain, and had long been visited and favourably 
spoken of by merchants. Moreover, one of the petty 
princes of the island, driven from his home by a civil 
war, had taken refuge and received protection from 
Agricola, who detained him under a shew of friendship 
until he could turn the opportunity to advantage. But 
the occasion, when the refugee prince might be of 
service, never arrived: other matters called aside the 
attention of Agricola from the meditated scheme of 
adding Ireland to the Roman empire, though his views 
must be admitted to have been sound : for, as he said 
afterwards to his son-in-law, " The island might be 
subdued and guarded by one legion with a few auxili- 
aries, and w^ould have been a warning to the northern 
British tribes, when every vestige of liberty was removed 
out of their sight." By the course of events, Ireland 
still remained in possession of independence more than 
a thousand years, until another exiled prince arrived 
in Britain, at a moment more favourable for finding an 
invader^ and a conqueror for his native country. 

In the beginning of the year 83, which was the 
sixth year of Agricola's government, the war against 
the Northern Britons assumed a twofold nature, as it 
was conducted partly by land, and partly by sea. The 
cause of this was still the mountainous character of the 

' Henry II. of England. 



A. D. 83.] THE FLEET OF AGRICOLA. 133 

country, which gave the natives many facihties for sur- 
prising the Roman army on its march. The campaign 
was this year carried into the regions beyond the 
Friths of Forth and Clyde ; and the general took care to 
have his fleet at no great distance from the camp, that 
he might avail himself of its use in a country so inter- 
sected by rivers and estuaries. In consequence of this 
arrangement, the camp afforded a novel sight: sailors 
and soldiers there met, often to relate over their cups 
and magnify their several exploits and successes against 
the common enemy, and by these means a degree of 
alacrity and cheerfulness was kept up in the camp, 
which inspirited the men to encounter the real toils 
and dangers of a war of invasion in a difficult country, 
and opposed by a brave and determined enemy. 

Meanwhile, the same cause which added confidence 
to the Romans, tended to depress the Britons; for 
Agricola learnt from his prisoners that the sight of the 
fleet created astonishment among them; as if the sea, 
their last resource in case of a defeat, was now taken 
from them. But the brave inhabitants of Caledonia did 
not suffer their surprise to deprive them of the power 
of acting: they applied themselves vigorously to remedy 
their disasters, and to make head against the invaders. 
The suddenness with which they rallied, gave some 
little apprehension to the Romans; and report, as often 
is the case in such circumstances, magnified their 
numbers and their preparations. It was said in the 
Roman camp, that the enemy had attacked certain of 
the border fortresses; and some, whose hearts failed 
them, advised, under tlie plea of prudence, that tliey 
should retire voluntarily beyond the Frith of Forth, 
rather than be driven back. Jn tlie mean time Agri- 
cola received intelligence that his troops would be 



134 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

soon assailed by the enemy in large numbers and in 
several bodies at once. To prevent the possibility of 
his army being surrounded, he divided it into three 
columns, and led them on in parallel marches against 
the enemy. The Britons, baffled by this movement, 
changed their plans also, and uniting into one body, 
fell upon the ninth legion, which was the weakest, under 
the cover of the night, and forced the outports, killing the 
guards amid the darkness and the confusion. A fierce 
battle ensued within the lines, when Agricola, informed 
by his scouts of the enemy's motions, and following close 
upon their heels, ordered his light horse and infantry 
to set up a shout, and charge the enemy in the rear. 
This created a diversion in favour of those who were 
within, and presently afterwards the dawn of day re- 
vealed to the Britons the victorious eagles of the 
Romans, against v/hich they had so often fought and 
bled in vain. They recoiled in alarm from the attack, 
and the Romans, recovering from their sudden panic, 
and sure of safety, fought only to make their victory 
the more glorious. They charged the enemy on both 
sides, and a bloody battle followed, especially in the 
narrow outlets of the camp. Both divisions of the 
army fought the harder from emulation of each other: 
the one, eager to have the credit of having saved their 
comrades; the other, anxious to have it thought that 
they did not need assistance. Their combined exer- 
tions at length put the enemy to the rout, and the 
field remained their own, strewed with the corpses of 
the slain ! The remnant owed their safety to the woods 
and marshes, those strongholds of Ancient Britain, 
which had so often saved them from slaughter. 

The renewed energy, which this victory gave to the 
Roman soldiers, was such as may be imagined : they 



A. D. 83.] ADVENTURE OF THE USIPIAN COHORTS. 135 

called on their general to lead them on into the country 
of the Caledonians, that they might exterminate the 
only enemy who now remained, and put an end to the 
war on the extreme verge of the island. Even those, 
who a short time before had given advice which 
seemed to flow from cowardice under the garb of pru- 
dence, after this victory abandoned all ideas of caution 
or circumspection, and became forward and boastful. 
Such is always the state of things in military move- 
ments. Every one claims a share in the honours of 
success; but, if the Romans had been defeated, all the 
blame would have rested on Agricola. 

Notwithstanding this serious defeat, however, the 
brave Britons were not disheartened; they imputed 
their defeat to the skill of the Roman leader, aided by 
the good fortune which brought him so opportunely to 
the rescue of the legion. They did not yet despair of 
success, but continued to arm all who were of a fit age 
to serve in theu' ranks, to lodge their wives and 
children in places of security, and to bind together the 
different tribes, by public meetings and solemn sacri- 
fices, to make another combined exertion in the com- 
mon cause. In the mean time, the opposite armies no 
longer came into contact, and a brief cessation of arms 
followed. 

In the course of the same summer, a bold and 
extraordinary exploit was performed by one of the 
cohorts which had been raised among the Usipii, a 
tribe of Germany. Jt was the custom of the Romans 
to place a centurion with a few native Romans in every 
cohort, raised among the barbarous nations which 
composed their empire, to train and discipline them. 
The same system is still practised by the British in 
India, and perhaps by every civilized state which has 



136 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. X. 

armies levied among rude and barbarous tribes. This 
Usipian cohort, taking offence at some ill-treatment, 
or perhaps from a conspiracy to regain their inde- 
pendence, rose in a body, put to death the centurion 
and other officers who commanded them, and seized 
on three light galleys which were lying at hand in the 
port. The pilot of one of these vessels took to his 
heels and ran away ; and the soldiers vented their rage 
upon the other two by killing both of them. They 
then put to sea without any sailors or steersmen to 
direct the vessels, and in a short time got out of sight. 
They afterwards landed at different points of the island 
to get food, but the natives came down to the coast to 
defend their property. In the actions which ensued 
they were sometimes victorious, and sometimes repulsed 
w^ith loss. In this way they were reduced to so terrible 
a condition by famine, that they killed those of their 
companions who were the weakest and least able to 
resist, and finally they drew lots which should be put 
to death and be eaten by the rest. Thus they at last 
managed to sail round the northern extremity of 
Britain, till they lost all of the three vessels from want 
of skill to manage them, when they were captured as 
pirates, first by the Suevi, and afterwards by the Frisii. 
By these people some of them were sold as slaves, and 
passing through the hands of different purchasers, 
again came into the possession of Roman masters, to 
whom they related the adventures which they had 
gone through^. 

The ensuing summer [A.D. 84.] brought with it 
a domestic affliction to Agricola in the death of his 
son, a little boy born the preceding year. This be- 
reavement he bore without affecting a Stoical indiffer- 

^ See also Xiphilinus Ixvi. §. 20. 



o 



A. D. 84.] AGRICOLA INVADES CALEDONIA. 1:37 

ence to the evils of humanity, or suffering himself on 
the other hand to be overcome by unmanly sorrow. 
A strong diversion and relief to his distress presented 
itself in the enemy, which stood often defeated, but still 
unsubdued before him. He determined in this cam- 
paign to push his successes into the heart of Caledonia. 
For this purpose he dispatched his fleet to sail round 
the island, and alarm the enemy by repeated descents 
upon their coasts. He then advanced with his army 
in excellent order, having with him some of the 
Britons, who had long before become allies of the 
Romans, and now assisted in the subjugation of their 
countrymen. Tlie Britons' troops were drawn up on 
the Grampian hills, where, taught by their common 
danger the necessity of combining to repel their 
common enemy, they were now assembled from all the 
tribes of Caledonia to make a final stand for their 
native liberties. Thirty thousand were here met toge- 
ther, and fresh accessions were daily made to the num- 
ber by all whose warlike vigour remained unabated by 
age, or whose military reputation prompted them to 
strike one more blow for their country's freedom. The 
leader of the combined army was Galgacus, the most 
distinguished of their generals for his personal valour 
and his high birth. He had no doubt been chosen by 
the rest, according to the custom which prevailed over 
all Britain, to lead their host in this last conflict with 
the Roman invaders. To inflame still higher the 
spirits of his men, and encourage them to the struggle 
which was approaching, Galgacus addressed them, we 
are told, in these words : 

" When I look at the causes of the war, and the 
necessity to wliicli we liave been reduced, I feel 
confident, fellow-soldiers, lluU your joint exertions this 



138 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

day will lay the basis for the freedom of all Britain. 
You have never yet had a taste of slavery ; but there 
is no more land behind us to flee to : and we are shut 
out from the sea by the Roman fleet. Thus all of 
you, whether he be brave or whether he be a coward, 
must act together in this emergency, whether he seek 
to gain glory or to save his life, can find his resource 
in nothing but war and arms. We have fought many 
battles already against the Romans, and with various 
success ; but our hopes and our resources were in our 
own hands. We are the most noble of the British 
tribes, seated here in the inmost coasts of Britain, far 
from the sight of slaves and slavery ; we have kept our 
eyes unpolluted by the tyranny of a master. But now 
the charm is broken : the bounds of Britain are laid 
open, and we are no longer protected by the high 
estimate, which our enemies in their ignorance formed 
of us. We are the last nation that remains for them 
to subdue ; all beyond us is sea and rocks : our ene- 
mies possess the heart of our country, and it is hope- 
less to avoid their haughtiness by mild measures or by 
submission. They are the plunderers of all the world, 
and, when they have no more land to ravage, they 
extend their depredations over the sea also. A rich 
foe is an object for their avarice, a poor one still 
furnishes a scope for their ambition: the remotest 
bounds of the East and of the West will not satisfy 
them : they grasp with the same eagerness at the 
wealth and the poverty of the universe ; they fill the 
world with rapine and slaughter, which they designate 
as empire, and when they have reduced a country to a 
desert, they call it peace ! Nature herself dictates 
that a man's children and relations should be his 
dearest ties; but Rome wrests from mankind these 



A. D. 84.] SPEECH OF GALGACUS. 139 

dearest ties, and sends them as levies for her legions 
into remote regions. Om* wives and sisters, if they 
escape the hands of the hostile soldiery, fall a prey to 
those whom they receive as friends and guests : our 
goods and fortunes are exhausted in the payment of 
tribute, our corn is consumed in provisioning their 
legions, our very hands and limbs are worn out in 
fortifying the woods and marshes, amidst blows and 
insults. The true-born slave is but sold once, and is 
nourished afterwards at his master's cost : but Britain 
is constantly feeding and paying for her own servi- 
tude. In one point indeed there is a resemblance : in 
a domestic family the last captive becomes the sport 
even of his fellow slaves; and we, in this ancient 
servitude of nations as the last new-comers, and as 
possessing nothing of value, are marked out as objects 
of destruction. We have no fields, which we can till 
for their use, no mines or harbours, where we can be 
kept to work. Valour and spirit we possess, but such 
qualities in slaves are odious in the sight of their 
masters : even the remoteness and solitude of our 
native land are objects of distrust to them, in propor- 
tion as they furnish security to us. Thus then, as we 
have no hopes of forgiveness, be of good courage, if 
you wish to preserve your lives and your honour. 
The Trinobantes, headed by a woman ^, set fire to a 
Roman colonial town ', forced a Roman camp, and, if 
success had not lulled them into inactivity, might have 
altogether freed themselves from the foreign yoke. 
Shall not we, then, who are still free and unharmed, 
and therefore fighting to keep and not to recover our 
liberties, shew the world at the first onset what kind of 
people Caledonia contains ? 

" Boudicea, sec page 101. ' Cainaiodiuinin. 



140 HISTOUY OF THE ANCIENT BEITONS. [CH. X, 

" Do you think that the Romans are as brave in war, 
as they are Hcentious in peace? Their success has 
proceeded from our dissensions ; they always turn 
the faults of their enemies to the glory of their own 
arms. Their armies have been drawn from different 
nations, and are held together only by success : the 
first touch of adversity will disperse them, unless we 
acknowledge that the Gauls, Germans, and — I blush to 
speak it — most of the Britons also, have been so well 
trained to fidelity during a short and recent servitude, 
that they have forgotten the long struggle which they 
made in the cause of independence. But this is not 
the case : fear and dread are their only ties, and these 
are but weak bonds of fidelity : once remove them, and 
hatred will begin when fear has ended. 

" But further, every thing which can add charms to 
victory is on our side : the Romans have no wives to 
encourage them : no fathers to upbraid them if they 
run away : most of them have no country to care for^ 
or at all events one that is far away. So few are they 
in number, and so alarmed by continued watching, 
that it seems as if the Gods had given them up into 
our hands : heaven and earth fight against them, 
every thing is new and unknown to them, an unknown 
climate, and a strange sea, and strange forests, in the 
depths of which they are held fast to become our 
prisoners. Do not be frightened at outward show ; the 
shine of their gold and silver cannot save them, or do 
harm to us. Besides, we shall find friends in their 
own ranks : the British levies will hail a cause which 
is their own; the Gauls will remember their ancient 
liberty; and all the other Germans will desert, as did 
the Usipians'' a little while ago. Let us conquer 
^ See the adventures of the Usipiau cohort in page 135. 



A. D. 84.] agricola's speech. 1 11 

these wlio are before us, and notliing remains to alarm 
us ; nothing but ungarrisoned castles, colonies of old 
men : what with a disaffected people, and tyrannical 
governors, the Roman municipalities in Britain are in 
a weak and distracted state. Here we have a general 
to lead us on, and an army fit for fighting : with them 
you will meet with nothing but taxes to pay, mines to 
work, and all the rest of those burdens which are laid 
on slaves j and whether you will submit to such a fate 
for ever, or for ever be released from it, depends upon 
the issue of this day's battle. When therefore you 
advance against the enemy, think of your noble 
ancestors, think of your children who will come after 
you!" 

This address of Galgacus', we are told, was received 
by his soldiers with acclamations and discordant 
shouts. The rival armies were drawn up in array for 
battle over against each other, when Agricola, con- 
sidering the occasion sufficiently important to authorize 
every exertion and means of precaution which he 
could think of, advanced in front of his small but 
brave and gallant army, and addressed them in lan- 
guage to this import. 

" It is now the eighth year, brave companions in 
arms, since your valour and fidelity, seconding [ithe 



' It would be interesting to know where Tacitus got his account of 
this speech of Galgacus: it cannot be supposed that any Roman 
soldiers were present in the Caledonian camp, and it is equally 
improbable that any Caledonian deserters or captives would be the 
means of communicating even the substance of what was said. 
But several of the ancient historians were fond of putting speeches 
into the mouths of their heroes, and Tacitus is well known for such 
a peculiarity. I however have given the speech, without undei- 
taking lo be responsiblo for its coireclness. 



142 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

good fortune of the Roman empire, have reduced 
Britain to subjection. Through all the numberless 
expeditions and battles you have been engaged in, the 
bravery and toilsome perseverance you have shewn in 
encountering not only the enemy, but even nature 
herself, I have had no cause to repent of my soldiers, 
nor you of your general. We have both of us out- 
done all vy^ho have gone before us : no general or army 
has ever passed so far beyond the usual bounds as we 
have done, and here we are on the furthest extremity 
of Britain, which we are actually occupying with our 
camp, and not according to the mere fictions of public 
report. When you were on your march hither, and 
harassed by the marshes, rivers, and mountains which 
impeded your path, did I not hear you cry out, ' When 
shall we see the enemy, when shall we be brought to 
battle?' Now you see the enemy before you, driven from 
their retreat, and forced to fight : now then you have a 
fair field on which to exert your valour: all will 
depend upon the result of this day's battle, all will be 
smooth if you gain the victory, all disastrous if you 
are defeated. For as so much ground got over, so 
many woods cleared, so many aestuaries crossed, open 
the way to glory and honour, all that now seems 
advantageous will prove the more fatal to our retreat. 
We are not so well acquainted with the country as 
our enemies, or equally supplied with provisions : so 
that we have no resource but in our arms and weapons. 
For myself I have long since decided, that neither 
general nor army can ever find safety in flight. An 
honourable death is better than a life of disgrace, and 
safety and glory are but one common cause. If we 
fall, it will be no disgrace to die here, on the confines 
of nature and of the world. 



A. D. 84.] AGRICOLA's SPEECH. 143 

" But further, if it were a new foe that we had to con- 
tend with, and a strange nation that we were invading, 
I should point out to you the deeds of other armies, and 
exhort you to follow their example; but now I have no 
need to do soj look back on your own brave deeds, and 
then ask your own eyes, who are the enemy before 
you? These are the same people who attacked your 
camp last year by night, and fled at the first sound of 
your shouts: these are those tribes who have ahvays 
run away from us, and to this is it owing that they have 
baffled us so long. Jjike hunters, we have beaten the 
woods and forests of Britain, until we destroyed all the 
noble game, and none remain but the cowardly and 
inactive, whom the bare noise of the hunters has scared 
into these remote regions. Their appearance in arms 
before us this day cannot be called resistance, but a 
capture, for you have at last found them, and they 
cannot escape you; your victory will be glorious and 
complete. Here then your marshes and dangers end, 
here you will put the finish to a war of fifty years : on 
this battle field we will prove to our countrymen at 
Rome, that the long delays of this protracted warfare, 
and the causes which have led the enemy so often to 
revolt, have never been imputable to their soldiers." 

The address of Agricola inspirited his men with 
redoubled ardour for the battle, and the little band was 
soon drawn up in the manner which enabled them to 
make most advantage of the ground, and of their 
military superiority. Eight thousand" foot of the allies 
and three thousand horse, with perhaps four thousand 
legionaries, was all that Agricola had to oppose to 
more than twice that number of the enemy : but every 
military commander knows, that this disproportion was 

"■ Tacit. Air. 20. 



144 HISTORY OF THE xiNCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

trifling in comparison with the many advantages of the 
Romans. The Caledonian army looked formidable 
from the declivity upon which they were posted : the 
slope of the ground enabled the Romans to see 
rank rising above rank in long and warlike array; 
whilst the valley which intervened between the two 
armies presented a moving spectacle, with the cavalry 
and war chariots which thronged the field in all sides. 
In front of the Caledonians, Agricola drew up his auxi- 
liary infantry eight thousand in number, flanked on both 
sides by the three thousand horse, whilst in the rear 
the legionaries were posted, to carry assistance if 
needed to the auxiliaries, but, if not required, to look 
on and see those subordinates gain tlie victory, and 
then to participate in its honours and share its rewards. 
The Roman system was the most cold and unfeeling 
which man has yet devised for bending his species 
under the dominion of a conqueror, and maintaining 
the world in subjection without regard to its sufferings 
or fear of consequences. 

But the numerical superiority of the enemies was so 
great, that the Roman army could not be drawn up in its 
usual compact form, lest the enemy should attack it on 
all sides at once. To prevent this from happening, 
Agricola placed the troops with intervals between them, 
and so extended his flanks by weakening the centre. 
Some of his officers advised that the legionaries, who 
were in reserve, should be brought up to supply the 
deficiency, but Agricola, whose military science best 
measured the emergency, refused to alter the plan of 
battle, and to encourage his men, he sent away his 
horse, and took his post on foot in front of the Roman 
eagle. 

The engagement began with missiles, which the 



A. D. 84.] agricola's last battle. 145 

Britons turned aside with their small targets, and often 
parried with their long claymores", while the Romans 
were at first perplexed and overwhelmed by the shower 
of arrows which the enemy rained upon them. Agri- 
cola seeing this, chose out three troops of Batavians 
and two of Tungrians, and ordered them to close at 
once with the enemy. This was a service for which 
those nations were from long experience well adapted, 
and they were armed in such a way, that the Britons 
with their large pointless swords, and small shields, had 
no chance against them at close quarters. The Bata- 
vians therefore had no difficulty in forcing back the 
confused mass of the enemy across the valley, whilst 
eveiy thrust told on the faces and other exposed parts 
of the bodies of the Britons, who were crowded together 
in a narrow compass, and had not room to deal a blow 
at the enemy in return. They were therefore driven in 
a mass over the plain and up the side of the hill, whilst 
the other bodies of Roman troops, seeing the success 
of the Batavians, hastened to follow their example, and 
the whole line advanced upon the enemy. The violence 
of this general charge carried all before it, but was not 
so fatal to the Caledonians as it might have been^ for 
they were borne down and rolled in masses on the 
ground, but most of them without receiving a wound. 
Their war-chariots and cavalry were mingled with the 
infantry in inextricable confusion, and those light 
carriages, which were calculated to deal such havoc 
among light armed troops, less ably disciplined than 
those of Rome, were utterly useless against the firm 
army that was now opposed to them. They were 
dragged about by the horses without plan or guidance, 

" The target and claymore have been in all ages [he- favourite 
weapons of the Higlilunders of Scollaiul. 
L 



146 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

and running foul of one another, served only to em- 
barras the rest of the army. 

Meantime the main body of the Britons who had 
remained on the top of the hill, entertaining apparently 
the most supreme contempt for the small army that 
was in front of them, at this moment made a lateral 
movement on either side, and were gradually surround- 
ing the Romans on the flank. This contingency how- 
ever had been provided for by the foresight of Agricola. 
Four troops of horse, set apart for this service, charged 
the advancing multitude with vigour, and after a brief 
resistance dispersed them. Thus the stratagem of the 
Britons proved fatal to themselves; for their superiority 
of number, which, if kept together, might have main- 
tained the possession of the hill against the advancing 
enemy, was thus drawn away from the centre where it 
was most needed, and wasted on the extreme flanks, 
where they met with nothing but loss and discomfiture. 
The British centre was now too weak to resist any 
longer, and the whole plain presented a most shocking 
appearance; the Roman soldier, elated with his easy 
victory, was neither revengeful nor bloodthirsty. The 
defeated Caledonian was of more value to him as 
a slave for the market, than as a victim to the 
god of war. Hence the victors were seen dispersed 
over the plain, and making prisoners in numbers 
that it was impossible to calculate; and ever and 
anon, as new ones presented themselves, they foimd 
it a necessary precaution to slay the enemies who 
were too numerous to be carried off captives, and 
might still, if left alive, offer many obstacles to the 
completeness of their victory. On the side of the 
vanquished, were all those conflicting feelings and 
modes of action, which characterises a routed army, 



A. D. 84.] agricola's last battle. 147 

and wbicli the poet, not the historian, may venture to 
describe. Here some of their largest bands fled before 
a smaller number : there again others unarmed stood 
still, or rushed on to meet the foe, as if ' eager to 
anticipate their grave.' The gi'ound was strewed with 
arms, bodies, and mangled limbs, and drenched with 
blood. The flight of the fugitives was marked by a 
bloody track till they reached the forests, those natural 
fortresses of Scotland which existed in ancient times, 
but have now for centuries been destroyed. Here the 
flying soldiers, feeling themselves more safe, resumed a 
little of their native courage, and collecting in a body, 
fell with unexpected fury upon the foremost of their 
pursuers, and in an instant surrounded them with 
numbers. But the Roman general was himself in 
every part of the battle, and seeing the danger, he 
detached some strong and active cohorts to scour the 
country and beat the woods : he also ordered part of 
the cavalry to dismount and continue the pursuit on 
foot through the woods, whilst the others still acted on 
horseback in all the more open parts. By these pre- 
cautions the Roman army was saved from great danger 
and considerable loss, which they might otherwise have 
received by their too great confidence. The same 
measures also produced the effect of discouraging the 
new ardour of the Britons, who seeing their hopes of 
a diversion baffled by the good order and discipline of 
the enemy, took to their heels, not in bodies as before, 
but individually as each was best able, making their 
utmost speed to reach the wildest and most inacces- 
sible depths of the forest. Night and fatigue put an 
end to the pursuit. Nearly ten thousand of the 
Caledonians lay dead upon the field : the loss of tlie 
L 2 



148 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

Romans was about three hundred and forty-four % 
among whom was Aulus Atticus, prefect of a cohort, 
who had been hurried by the warmth of youth and 
the impetuosity of his horse into the middle of the 
enemy. 

The army passed the night in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of the scene of action, in joy and exultation 
at the important victory which they had gained. All 
the night they heard the movements and lamentations 
of the Britons, who returned, though probably in no 
formidable numbers, to carry off their dead ; men and 
women were seen destroying their houses, which they 
set fire to with their own hands, and holding irresolute 
counsels together how they should now act : the sight 
of their wives and children drove them to despair and 
to frenzy. " It is a certain fact," says Tacitus, " that 
several of the Caledonians, to save their wives and 
children from slavery, starvation, or the sword, mur- 
dered them with their own hands." Such are the 
invariable results of the ambition of a conquering 
nation, such the tragedy which Rome enacted in the 
north of Britain, where, though she reaped her usual 
harvest of spoil and glory, she found even there that 
the spirit of man would still rise against her tyranny, 
and assume a form not unworthy to be compared with 

" There is no accounting for the extraordinary inequality of men 
slain in these great battles. Even in more civilized times, the dis- 
proportion has been still greater. It is said that at the battle of 
Poictiers the French lost 15000 men, vrhilst only 400 of the English 
were put hors du combat : and I find on enquiry, for I always 
suspected national mendacity in such apparently exaggerated state- 
ments, that the French historians agree with our own in the number 
of men said to have been slain on that fatal field. 



A. D. 84.] agricola's last battle. 149 

that which animated to bitterness and to despair the 
defenders of Numantia ''. 

The next morning revealed to the victors the full 
extent of their victory. Profound silence reigned on 
all sides, the hills were deserted by the rovdng bands 
which had so lately covered them; houses were seen 
smouldering in ruins all over the country ; the scouts, 
who were sent out in all directions, observed traces of 
the enemy's flight, but not a human being was any 
where to be seen. The whole country was deserted ; 
the Caledonians had fled into those pathless wilds 
where no invading enemy could follow them, where 
they have so often taken breath after they have been 
defeated in the open field, and have returned from 
thence with fresh strength to expel the foreigner from 
their land 'J. 

The summer was now so far advanced, that Agricola 
did not think it prudent to continue the war: he 
thei'efore led his army back into the country of the 
Orestii, of whom he took hostages for their good 
behaviour, and continued his march towards the south. 

Meanwhile tlie admiral of the fleet, pursuant to the 
instructions of his superior, set sail to circumnavigate 
the whole island. Furnished with a suflicient force, 
he struck terror into all the tribes whose shores he 
approached: he also first explored, and reduced to 

^ Tliu inhabitants of Nuuuuitia set fire to tlieir city, and threw 
iheir wives, their children, and themselves into the flames, rather 
ihaji become slaves of the Romans. 

1 The Higlilands of Scotland rcmahicd almost in their original 
state till after the battle of Culloden. After that time, the IJritish 
government formed military roads, and opened the country in stich a 
manner, that it might be no longer formidable, or a nursery for what 
they called ' rel)cllion." 



150 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

submission, the Orkney Isles, which until then- were 
only known by name, and having at last sailed round 
the whole island, reached in safety the porf^ from 
which the fleet had sailed at the beginning of the 
campaign. 

The army was also about the same time led into 
winter quarters, and the general dispatched to Rome 
on account of the successes which he had gained. 
But the emperor, who now sat on the throne of the 
civilized world, was no longer a Vespasian or a Titus. 
The youngest and last of the Flavian family was 
compelled to hear the modest recital of Agricola's 
victories with an appearance of satisfaction, but they 
settled near his heart, and filled his mind with in- 
quietude. Jealousy is the tribute which meanness 
pays to superior merit; and Domitian had at this 
moment too good cause for jealousy. He had lately 
led a triumphal procession to celebrate a pretended 
victory over the Germans, and purchased slaves, whom 
he decked out in appropriate costumes and head- 
dresses, to represent his captives ; the thought of this 
unworthy ceremonial, which, as he knew, brought 
ridicule to the lips of some, and blushes to the cheeks 
of others of the citizens, made his conscience tremble 
before the halo of noble deeds and hard-earned glories, 
which sat on the brow of the Propraetor of Britain. 
The throne of the empire had passed twice in lineal 
descent to his own family; it was not yet become 
hereditary, but he himself was without an heir, and the 
Romans might be tempted to place their triumphant 
general in the seat of his unworthy master, Domitian 

'■ The name of this port is Poitus Trutulensis in the text of 
Tacitus : but no such port is mentioned elsewhere. The com- 
mentators read Rutupeusis, Richhovough, or Sandwich in Kent. 



A. D. 84.] agricola's recal. 151 

reflected, that all his fancied superiority in eloquence 
and the liberal arts were nothing, if another were to 
carry off the prize of military glory, which is essential 
to the safety of an emperor. These considerations 
however did not prevent him from observing due 
decorum on the receipt of Agricola's dispatches from 
Britain. He concealed his thoughts with the closest 
reserve, and determined to smother his enmity until 
the first impression of Agricola's triumph and the 
honours of the victorious army should have worn 
away. For Agricola still commanded in Britain, and 
what was still more important, in the hearts of his 
soldiers : it was unsafe for Domitian to advance by 
any other than by a sinuous path, strewed with flowers, 
which concealed the venom of the serpent. 

In pursuance of this policy, the emperor ordered 
that the triumphal ornaments should be voted to Agri- 
cola, together with a statue, in full senate; and he 
took care to have it publicly reported about that he 
was, on his return from Britain, to be appointed to the 
rich government of Syria, then vacant by the death of 
Atilius Rufus. It was indeed supposed by some that 
the emperor's freedman, whom he employed in his 
secret commissions, was sent to Agricola with letters 
conferring the province of Syria upon him, and charged 
to deliver them to him if he found him still in Britain. 
But the truth of this report could never be ascertained, 
for Agricola passed the messenger on his way to the 
continent, and the freedman, without having had any 
interview with him, returned to the imperial court. 

Agricola surrendered his province in a peaceful and 
settled condition to his successor, and made the best 
of his way to Home. To avoid the concourse of 
people, who, lie knew, would be got together to do 



152 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. X. 

honour to his arrival, he entered the city by night, 
and avoided even the civiUties and salutations of his 
friends. He even went to the palace by night to wait 
on the emperor : but this, probably from a pretended 
care of his person, and real fear of a tumult, was in 
accordance with the order of the emperor. 

When Agricola reached the audience-chamber, 
Domitian received him with a cold and formal kiss ; 
and, without a word passing on either side, the 
conqueror of Britain fell back from the presence of 
his ungrateful sovereign, and was lost in the crowds of 
sycophants and slaves who thronged the courts of the 
palace. 



CHAP. XL 



SALLUSTIUS LUCULLUS, LIEUTENANT OF BRITAIN — REIGNS OP NERVA, 
TRAJAN, AND HADRIAN — LITTLE KNOWN OF BRITAIN FOR MANY 
TEARS — ITS TRADE AND MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTIONS — THE 
DRUIDS — THEIR FALL. 



The return of Agricola from his government, in the 
eighty-fifth year of the Christian aera, was so joyful an 
event to the populace of Rome, that in the splendour 
of his triumph the island, from which he had obtained 
his glory, seems to have faded from the public notice. 
The remainder of Domitian's reign, extending to the 
year 96, presents but one allusion to our island. It 
is uncertain who succeeded Agricola in the govern- 
ment, but towards the end of Domitian's reign, the 
tyrant is said by Suetonius'" to have put to death 
Sallustius Lucullus, lieutenant of Britain, for no other 
crime than calling by his own name some lances of a 
new form which he had invented ^ From this brief 

=> Domit. 10. 

'' About this time also must have lived Arviragus, the British king 
mentioned by Juvenal, if indeed he is not a purely poetical character, 
introduced solely to adom the discussion which takes place over the 
captive sturgeon. 

Sure 'tis an omen of some mighty trinmjjh; 

Some king you'll capture, or from Britain's chariot 

Arviragus shall fall: the beast's no native. 

As you may see by th' bristles on his back. 
Juv. Sat. iv. 126. If, however, Arviragus was a really-existing 
person, he was no doubt one of the independent Caledonian 
princes, and a woriliy successor of Galgacus. 



154 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [t)H. XI. 

notice, it is impossible to deduce any facts which 
characterized the government ofLuculIus; though it 
is not unreasonable to suppose, that the natives of 
Britain had received too severe a lesson from Agricola 
to rise again in arms against the Roman supremacy, or 
for a slight cause to draw down upon them the wrath 
of so powerful a nation. 

On the death of Domitian, the Praetorian soldiers, 
who had usurped the right of electing the emperor, 
placed on the throne the virtuous but helpless Nerva. 
His short reign *" was occupied in a hopeless endeavour 
to retain, in the elevation to which he was raised, those 
amiable qualities which, when he was in a private 
station, had endeared him to his fellow citizens. 
Within fifteen months the throne was again vacant, 
and was promptly filled by the great Trajan, who 
equalled his predecessor in personal merit, and ex- 
ceeded him in the talents with which he ruled his 
dangerous charge. His long reign of twenty years, 
whilst it proves the ability with which his administra- 
tion was conducted, and the licentious soldiery retained 
in their duty, was long afterwards remembered by the 
Romans for the skill with which the emperor blended, 
the arts of peace with the triumphs of war. 

But of the events which passed in Britain during 
the reign of Trajan, we have no information, nor is it 
till the accession of Hadrian, who reigned from the 
year A.D. 117, to 138, that Britain again occurs to 
notice in the pages of the Roman historians. 

" The reign of Hadrian, like that of his predecessor, 
was a most active and energetic one. Notwithstand- 
ing many imperfections of character, this emperor was 
well qualified to superintend the affairs of his vast 
' From Sept. 18, A-D. 96, to Jan. 25, A.D. 98. 



A. D. 120.] HADRIAN IN BRITAIN. 155 

empii'e. Although exceedingly restless and inqui- 
sitive, he possessed great method and judgment. His 
various journeys were undertaken from no motives of 
pride or ostentation, but from the earnest wish to 
inform himself thoroughly of the state of his dominions, 
and thence to derive sounder views of policy and 
government ^" 

" At the accession of Hadrian," says the Augustan 
historian yElius Spartianus, who wrote a hundred and 
fifty years later than the events which he relates; " the 
nations which Trajan had subdued, were again in 
revolt: the Moors and Sarmatians were in arms, and 
the Britons refused any longer to be held in obedience." 

Of the causes which led to this state of things, we 
are left to form the best conjecture that we can: for 
no contemporary writer has noticed the events which 
at this time were passing in Britain. To remedy the 
evils under which the provinces were suffering, Hadrian 
made a progress through the different states of his 
empire. In the course of his tour, he crossed into 
Britain in the year 120, where he found many things 
that required a healing hand. Of the evils complained 
of and of the remedies used to redress them, history is 
equally silent. We have no information of the civil or 
military condition of the provincials at this time, nor 
of the measures which Hadrian took to restore things 
to a sounder state. But the same writer'", to whom we 
are indebted for our knowledge of his having visited 
Britain at all, informs us, that previously to his depar- 
ture, he constructed a huge wall or rampart, eighty 
miles in length, across the island, to protect the 
Romans from the northern barbarians. This fact is 

" Thackeray, vol. i. p. 117. ' Spavtiaiuis in V. Had. c. II. 



156 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. XI. 

too important to be dispatched with a hasty notice. 
The situation of Hadrian's wall is not stated by the 
historian, but so great a work must have carried with 
it for centuries the memory of its founder: and it is 
the generally received opinion, to which we shall here- 
after recur, that the wall of Hadrian was extended from 
the north of the Tyne on the eastern coast of North- 
umberlandj to the town of Bowness, on the coast of 
the Irish sea. All the country, therefore, which lay 
to the north of this fortification, was acknowledged to 
belong to the barbarians: but this admission was as 
glorious to the Caledonians, as it was disparaging to 
the Romans; for in the course of thirty-five years, their 
armies must have retreated nearly 100 miles, since 
Agricola, in his third campaign, had drawn a line of 
fortresses between the friths of Forth and Clyde, by 
which all the lowlands of modern Scotland were claimed 
as belonging to the Roman empire. But now the 
whole of that district, together with part of the north 
of England, were again virtually admitted to belong to 
the native tribes, and even that portion of the island, 
which the Romans still held, was protected by a for- 
midable line of defences from those pertinacious bar- 
barians, whom no armies could subjugate, whom no 
reverses could dispirit. This stupendous work, which 
principally marks the visit of Hadrian to Britain, was 
executed with speed, commensurate with the mighty 
means which a Roman autocrat possessed for carrying 
it into execution. 

Immediately afterwards, the emperor departed from 
the island*, which is again lost to the notice of the 



f It was during Hadrian's visit, ibat the poet Flonis addresses 
these lines to him : 



A. D. 132,] JULIUS SEVERUS GOV. OF BRITAIN. 157 

world, until we find, twelve or thirteen years later, that 
its governor, Julius Severus, was dispatched with many 
other able commanders, to conduct the war against 
the revolted Jews, who hoped at this time to revive in 
the holy land the ancient independence of their race. 
No other event is recorded of Britain or British affairs, 
until the reign of Antoninus Pius. 

But though the Roman legions were baffled in all their 
attempts to subdue the northern tribes^ of Britain, by far 
the lai'gest portion of it had been at this time completely 
moulded into a Roman province, and, as during the 
forty years that had elapsed since the defeat of Gal- 
gacus, the war between the nations had never again 
assumed a general character, the provincials of the 
south were gradually inured to the dominion of Rome, 
and had learnt to imitate in refinement and in polished 
manners the wonderful foreigners, to whose arms they 
had been compelled to bow. That the state of the 
country was for all purposes of civilization superior to 



Csesar himself I would not be, 
Were the choice imposed on me, 
To march on foot through British foes, 
And bear their Scythian frosts and snows. 
To this Hadrian returned the following reply, 
Florus himself I would not be. 
Were the choice imposed on me, 
To sleep in stinking tavern-halls 
Where gorged mosquitoes line the walls. 
*^ The account which Appian [A.D. 140.] gives of this matter, 
ascribes to the Romans more magnanimity and moderation of con- 
quest than they generally displayed. " They have penetrated into 
Britain, which is greater than a large continent, and have got 
possession of more than half of it, and that the best part ; but they 
do not wish to possess the other part; for what they have already, 
is of no use to them." A pp. Puiii'. ■'). 



158 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

what it was in independence, may be taken for granted ; 
and though the wild energies of the original British 
character had no longer room for development, yet 
the happiness of the people was probably increased in 
proportion to the greater enjoyments which they re- 
ceived. Trade and commerce already began to take 
deep root in the island, and the city of London had 
already given tokens of its aptitude to become, what 
after seventeen centuries we at last see it, the empo- 
rium of Europe, and the mercantile capital of the 
world. 

Another Roman city in Britain, to which allusion is 
continually made, was Verulam, near the modern St. 
Alban's,and athird was Camalodunum, a most important 
military post, supposed to be Maiden in Essex. York 
was also rising into importance, and will repeatedly 
occur to notice in connection with some of the most 
distinguished of the emperors, who at successive periods 
conducted in person the war against the Caledonians. 
But, whilst the Roman arms were fluctuating, as we have 
seen, on the furthest limits of the known world, vice, 
the poet and satirist informs us, was making fierce 
inroads upon the Roman character and morals at 
Rome : 

Our arms have reach'd beyond Juverna's^ shores, 
Orkneys, and Britain, where hot summer nights 
Content the natives ; but the deeds which they 
Would shudder at, are done without a blush 
In Rome's own streets. 

Those who would contrast the extreme of which the 
same people are equally capable, should peruse the 
narrative of Cincinnatus and his frugal feast in the 
pages of Livy, and compare with it the epicurism and 

^ Ireland. See Juvenal, Sat. ii. 159. 



A. D. 140.] COMMERCE OF BRITAIN. 159 

gluttony of the same people as described by Juvenal at 
the close of the first century after the Christian era. 
The epicure, who is the subject of the poet's satire, 

Could at one bite the oyster's taste decide, 
And say if at Circaian rocks, or in 
The Lucrine lake, or on the coasts of Richborough 
In Britain they were bred'. 

But Roman luxury drew more costly merchandize from 
Britain than her oysters ; there was an opinion preva- 
lent at Rome, even before the invasion of Julius 
Caesar that our island produced pearls of sufficient 
clearness and magnitude, to render them objects of 
Talue in the Roman markets. The avidity of the 
Romans for this species of ornament was much greater 
than that of any nation in modern times, and much 
curiosity prevailed at Rome to know what would be the 
nature of the pearl trade in Britain, as soon as Caesar's 
invasion should have opened a freer access to the 
island. On his return to Rome, that general hung up 
a breast-plate of British pearls in the temple of Venus, 
with an inscription to commemorate his expedition *". 
But it was soon discovered that the British pearls were 
of a dark and livid colour, and would not bear comparison 
with those which were found in the Red Sea, and other 
eastern waters^ Another peculiarity of the pearls 
found in Britain was, the precarious and accidental cha- 
racter of the fishery; for whereas in the east, the pearl 
oysters were torn in large numbers from the rocks 
where they grew, those of Britain are said to have been 
collected as they were cast up by the sea upon the strand. 
It was hinted, that those who gathered them were 
unskilful, but it was more likely that Nature had been 

' Juv. Sat. iv. 140. ^ Solinus, c. 53. ' Tacit. 

Vita Agric. c. 20. 



160 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

scanty in the supply, than that the Roman luxury 
should be backward to seize upon her bounties™. 
Notwithstanding these objections, we find mention is 
made by all succeeding writers'" of the British pearl 
fishery, though for more than a thousand years, no 
attempt has been made by the moderns to revive the 
search for them as a separate branch of commerce. 

Of the specific nature of the commerce carried on in 
Britain, we know but little. The soil of the island was 
as green and fertile as it has been in all succeeding 
times, but the arts and modes of life which pre- 
vailed among its inhabitants, will always be interesting 
to those who are born on the same soil, and breathe 
the same native air. All our knowledge of these 
things must be drawn from the writings of their con- 
querors ; for no written record of the Ancient Britons 
has come down to us, and during the earhest period of 
their history, from the invasion of the island by Csesar 
to its settlement by Agricola, it is not probable that 
the art of writing was generally known in the island. 

Of the mode of government which prevailed among 
the indigenous tribes of our island, it would be idle to 
attempt more than a recapitulation of the remarks 

■" Ibidem. 

" Thus Ausonius the poet, writing about the year 380, speaks of 
the 

wonderful oysters which 

The Caledonian tide sometimes throws up. 
[Ep. ix.] And again, [Moselle, v. 68.] 

Such sight is known to Caledonian Britons, 
When green sea-weed and blood-red coral lie 
Uncovered by the tide, and pearls that grow 
Within the sea-shell, and which form the pride 
Of men luxurious : such beneath the waters 
The gems that lie and imitate the jewels 
We bracelets call. 



NATIVE BRITISH TRIBES. 161 

which have ah-eady been extracted from the Roman 
writers. The kingly anthority was not unknown to 
them, and its nature was no doubt similar to that of 
the German chiefs of tribes; deriving its origin 
most probably from the more ancient patriarchal form 
of government, which is the intermediate link in the 
social progress between a single family and a tribe. 
Thus in all countries the first rulers have been no more 
than elders or heads of femilies, to whom succeeded 
chieftains or heads of clans, who have gradually shifted 
their authority from tlieir followers to a definite extent 
of territory, including of course its inhabitants; and 
have thus become a species of petty king, or, as the 
Roman writers have termed them, kinglets. To this 
class would seem to belong the sovereigns of the 
petty states, which we have had occasion to notice in 
the foregoing pages. But the next stage is the union 
of several of their smaller states or principalities into 
one, and this was a stage in civil government to which 
the Britons never fully arrived. It is true, that to meet 
a formidable invasion, they could combine under one 
chief, generally some one who was well-known as an 
experienced military leader. Such was Cassivellaunus, 
who opposed and checked the progress of the first 
Csesar. Such also were Cunobelin, Caractacus, and 
Boadicea: but their authority naturally ceased with 
the emergency which gave birth to it: though the 
lapse of another century might perhaps have produced 
some eminent chief, who, like the Saxon Egbert in 
after ages, would have united the various British tribes 
into one permanent kingdom. But the Romans came, 
and, as much by their skilful management of native 
quarrels as by the su[)eriority oi their arms, they ex- 
11 



162 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

tinguished for ever the dynasty of the aboriginal 
Britons. 

It is true that the sketch here given, of the political 
system of our first forefathers, is more brief and meagre 
than our curiosity would require : but it may be reason- 
ably supposed, that however it might amuse us to pos- 
sess more detailed accounts, yet we should derive very 
little valuable instruction or benefit from knowing more 
of a people who occupied so limited a page in the great 
book of the history of mankind. But though our 
records of British life and manners are in general so 
scanty, we occasionally find an incidental allusion in 
the Roman writers, which shews that the inhabitants of 
Britain are still in many respects what they were in the 
earliest period of their history. Thus we learn from 
Martial, that the Britons were basket-makers, and it is 
more interesting to find that they called their work by 
the same name which it still bears. 

Work of barbaric art, a basket I 

From painted Britons came, but the Roman city 

Now call the painted Britons' art their own °. 

The same poet informs us^, that his own verses were 
said to have already found their way into Britain, and 
to be chanted by the people. But this honour did not 
deter Martial from aiming his wit at the braccce, 
" breeks" or " breeches," which even then were worn 
in Britain, and the convenience of which has since 
caused them for many hundred years to be worn at 
Rome. 

" Lydia," says the poet, " is as loose 
As the old breeches of a British pauper." 

° Mart. xiv. 99. p Id. xi. 3. 



PRODUCTS OF BRITAIN. 1G3 

Another production for which Britain is still famous, 
were its dogs, which in the time of the poet Nemesian, 
the Somervile of his day, were objects of well-merited 
attention. 

Hunting Poem, v. 123. 

But not the Spartan dog and swift Molossian 
Alone demand your care ; for furthest Britain 
Sends forth a hound that's swift of foot, and fit 
To urge the chase in this part of our globe. 

Lead and tin v/ere well known products of Britain; the 
former was first exported to the Mediterranean by one 
Midacritus, out of Britain, where it was found in extra- 
ordinary abundance, as related by Pliny'. The same 
writer remarks, that the Britons still manufactured 
canoes made of wicker-work and covered with skins : 
such boats have continued in use on the river Wye, in 
Wales, almost to our own times'. Amber, was believed 
by Sotacus to be found in Britain flowing- from the 
rocks, but this account has received no confirmation '. 
Cherries, it appears, were already known in Britain 
before the first century of the Christian vera. This 
fruit was first introduced into Italy, after the war with 
Mithridates, by Lucullus, about seventy years before 
Christ, and within 120 years from that time, it had 
extended into Britain ^ Woad also was grown by the 
natives, and used, as it is now used, as a dye or pigment, 
but the Britons, says Mela, painted their bodies with this 
material, either as an ornament, or for some other i)ur- 
pose": whilst with an indehcacy still more shocking to tlie 
ears of their descendants, our British mothers stained 
themselves all o\ er with the dye, so as to become as dark 



T Plin. vii. 54. xxxiv. 


40. 




' Id. vii. 54. Solin. c. 22. 


• Id. .xx.xvii. 1 1. 


' 


Id. XV. 30. 
M 2 


• Mel. Ge. iii. (1. 



164 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI, 

as blackamoors, and so walked naked in some of their 
sacred ceremonies ^ 

But the system of social life which existed among 
the ancient Britons is said to have had one element 
of a nature as singular and curious as it is difficult to 
be understood. That in all nations which have made 
progress in civilization and the arts, there will arise two 
castes, either dominant from the first, or seeking to be 



^ Pliny xxii. 2. The poet Dionysius Periegetes seems to allude 
to some of these rites in the following lines ; 

But near the sacred cape, 
There where they say is Europe's utmost bound, 
And near th' Hesperides, whence tin proceeds, 
Dwell the rich progeny of noble Spain : 
And on the ocean's northern coasts are found 
Two British islands fronting to the Rhine, 
Where in the sea he disembogues his stream : 
Of these th' extent is vast, no other isles 
To the Britannic justly can compare. 
Islets adjacent lie, wherein the wives 
From the Amnites' distant shore perform 
Due rites to Bacchus thro' the livelong night, 
Deck'd in the dark-leav'd ivy's clustering buds. 
While the shrill echo of their chaunt resounds : 
Not so, upon Absinthus' Thracian banks 
Bistonians hail the harsh Iraphiote ; 
Nor thus, around the dark-gulf'd Ganges' stream. 
The Indians with their sons on Bacchus call, 
Noisy and loud, amid the festive scene. 
As shout these women ' Evoe' to their god. 
Far more remote, dividing ocean's flood 
With firm-built bark, you Thule's isle approach : 
And here the sun, proceeding to the pole, 
Still day and night pours out his brilliant fire. 
What time he turns with wheeling more oblique. 
His rays inclining to a point direct. 
Till to the Moors he bends his southern path. 



THE DRUIDS. lf>5 

dominant; a priesthood on the one liand, and a nobility 
on the other, is a point of history so well ascertained, 
that it now scarcely needs to be proved or to be ilkis- 
trated. These two governing castes, sometimes in 
their origin antagonistic, have been always found ulti- 
mately to fall into a certain harmony, and to lend their 
aid in mutually supporting one another. Thus the 
Jewish hierarchy, which for 400 years, from Moses 
to Saul, governed the people by a Theocracy, 
hesitated for a brief space to sanction the clamours 
which the people made, to have a king like the neigh- 
bouring nations: but the wishes of the people were 
too strong for the priests, who acquiesced in the people's 
petition; and from that time another period of 400 
years passed away, during which the rights of the 
kingly and sacerdotal castes were clearly defined, or at 
all events harmonized so well, that very little occasion 
for disputes ever arose between them. The Grecian 
and Roman states present no exceptions to this view, 
for we read of no collisions between the priests and 
the state, but, on the contrary, the greatest unanimity 
prevailed between the two. How far the relation oi' 
Christianity to the government of the countries in 
which it has been estabhshed, may be an exception or 
an illustration of the rule, it is not the province of this 
work to consider; for history takes cognizance of that 
which is past and complete, and leaves to the states- 
man to apply to existing contingencies and to passing- 
events the wisdom, which the lesson taught by history 
will i'urnish to those who seek it. 

The inhabitants of the " remote island" were no 
exception to the general rule of the world. A caste 
of priests is said to have existed in Britain, and in 
Gaul, oi a character decidedly different from anv (hat 



166 IIISTOTIY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

we find in Greece, or in Rome : and one of which it is 
evident that we know but little, because the accounts 
which have reached us on the subject, are so scanty in 
proportion to its importance. Though a large number 
of modern authors have endeavoured to handle the 
topic, it is still almost as obscure as it was before they 
commenced their researches : for, as the v^hole of the 
accounts which the Roman and Grecian writers have 
left us concerning the Druids will hardly occupy five 
pages of this work, it is the natural inference, that the 
voluminous dissertations of later authors must be re- 
markable rather for ingenuity than for historic truth. 

The first notice of the Druids is found in the 
Commentaries of Julius Caesar, but as he avowedly 
drew his narrative from what he saw in Gaul, and not 
in Britain, where he was too busy with military matters 
to bestow much attention on the religious systems of 
the natives, it is still a question how far the same 
statements may be applicable to both countries. The 
following is a translation of the account which he 
gives us of the Druids in Gaul, where by a residence 
of several years in different parts of that country, he 
may be supposed to have gained a tolerably correct 
knowledge of this and many other subjects concerning 
their national rites and customs. 

" There are two classes of persons who enjoy honour 
and estimation among the Gauls. . . . One of these two 
classes are the Druids : the other are the Knights. 
The Druids act in all sacred matters ; attend to the 
sacrifices which are offered either by the state in 
general, or by private individuals, and answer all 
questions concerning their religion. They always have 
about them a large number of young men as pupils, 
who treat them with the greatest respect. For it is 



THE DRUIDS. 167 

they who decide in all controversies, whether public or 
private, and they j udge all causes, whether of murder, 
of a contested inheritance, or of the boundaries of 
estates. They assign both rewards and punishments, 
and whoever does not abide by their sentence, whether 
he be in a public or private station, is forbidden to be 
present at the sacrifices to the Gods. This is in fact 
their most severe mode of punishment, and those, who 
have been thus excommunicated, are held as impious 
and profane : all avoid them, no one will either meet 
them or speak to them, lest they should receive 
detriment from their contagion; every species of 
honour is withheld from them, and if they are plaintiffs 
in a court of law, justice is denied them. All the 
Druids are subject to one chief, who enjoys the 
greatest authority among them. Upon the death of 
the chief Druid, the next in dignity is appointed to 
succeed him; and if there are two, whose merits are 
equal, the election is made by the votes of the whole 
body, but sometimes they dispute for preeminence 
with the sword. At a certain period of the year the 
Druids assemble in a consecrated grove, in the country 
of the Carnuti, which they consider to be the centi'e of 
Gaul. Here they are met by all who are at variance 
with one another, and who come here to have their 
quarrels decided. 

" The l^ruidiciil system is thought to have had its 
origin in Britain, from whence it was introduced into 
Gaul ; and it is still customaiy for those, who wish to 
study it more thoroughly, to pass over into Britain lor 
that purpose. 

" The Druids enjoy peculiar privileges ; they are 
exempted from serving in war, and from the payment 
of taxes; they have also many other immunities, which 



168 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

cause their order to become numerous and influential, 
and young persons are gladly placed with them to 
learn their doctrines by their parents and relations. 
In their schools the pupils are said to learn by heart 
a large number of verses, and in this way some of their 
scholars pass twenty years in completing their edu- 
cation : for it is unlawful to commit their doctrines to 
writing, though they are not ignorant of the art of 
writing; and for all other purposes, both in their 
public and private reckonings, they make use of the 
Greek characters. It seems to me that they have two 
motives to this conduct : in the first place, they are 
unwilling that their tenets should become known to 
the vulgar; and, secondly, they are afraid that the 
pupils will be less apt to cultivate their memories, if 
they trust to written characters, which often have the 
effect of checking diligent study. Among their most 
important tenets, is the Immortality of the Soul, which 
they believe passes after death into other bodies^: they 
hold this to be a great inducement to the practice of 
virtue, as the mind becomes relieved from the fear of 
death. Their other doctrines concern the motions of 
the heavenly bodies, the magnitude of the earth and 
the universe, the nature of things, the power and 
attributes of the Immortal Gods. 

" The other privileged class among the Gauls consists 
of the Knights, who all take part in the wars of the 
community; and this often happened before the in- 
vasion of Csesar, in consequence of the quarrels which 
occurred between the different tribes. The Knights 
are attended by followers and clients; and from the 
number of these may be inferred the relative power 

* Tliis is the doctrine called the Tiausmigration of souls, t'ouod 
in India among the Brahmins, and many other countries. 



THE DRUIDS — BRITISH DEITIES. 169 

and importance of the chiefs, for this is the only 
aristocratical distinction they have among- them. 

" All the Galhc nation are much given to super- 
stition ; for which reason, when they are seriously ill, 
or are in danger from their wars or other causes, they 
either offer up men as victims to the Gods, or make 
a vow to sacrifice themselves. The ministers in these 
offerings are the Druids; and they hold, that the wrath 
of the Immortal Gods can only be appeased, and man's 
life be redeemed, by offering up human sacrifice ; and 
it is part of their national institutions to hold fixed 
solemnities for this purpose. Some of them make 
immense images of wicker-work, which they fill with 
men, who are thus burnt alive in offering to theii' 
Deities. These victims are in general selected from 
among those who have been convicted of theft, robbery, 
or other crimes, in whose punishment tliey think the 
Immortal Gods take the greatest pleasure ; but if 
there is a scarcity of such victims, they do not hesitate 
to sacrifice the innocent also. 

" Their principal Deity is Mercury, in whose honour 
they have erected numerous statues ; they hold him to 
be the inventor of all the arts, and the God who 
protects men on a journey, and leads them on their 
way : moreover, they ascribe to him the power of 
granting success and prosperity in affairs of gain 
and commerce. 

" Next to Mercury come Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and 
Minerva, to whom they ascribe attributes similar to those 
which are attributed to these Deities among other 
nations : Apollo is considered to heal diseases, Minerva 
to initiate mankind in the arts and sciences, Jupiter to 
be the King ol Heaven, and Mars to be the God of 
War, When the Gauls are about to fight a batth^ 



170 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI* 

they often make a vow to dedicate to Mars the spoils 
which they may take from their enemies. If there is 
a superabundance of cattle taken in war, the surplus 
is offered up in sacrifice : the rest of the spoil is 
collected into one mass. In many of their cities large 
heaps of these things may be seen in their consecrated 
places : and it is a rare occurrence for any individual, 
sacrilegiously, to conceal part of the booty, or to turn 
it to his own use : the severest punishment, together 
with bodily torture, is inflicted on those who are guilty 
of such an offence. 

" The Gauls boast that they sprung from father Dis '', 
and say that they derive their information from the 
Druids. This is the reason why they measure time by 
nights and not by days, and their birth-days, together 
with the commencements of their months and years, 
are so arranged, that the days are reckoned as parts 
of the preceding nights. In their other customs also 
they differ from the rest of the world : for they never 
suffer their children to approach them until they are 
grown up and able to endure military service, and they 
think it disgraceful for a boy to appear in public in his 
father's presence. 

" Husbands receive with their wives a certain sum of 
money as dowry, and add to it a proportionate sum 
out of their own revenues. An account of these 
united sums is kept, and the interest of them pre- 
served : whichever of the married couple survives the 
other, receives a portion of this property, together with 
the interest of preceding years. Husbands have also 
the power of Hfe and death over both their wives and 
children ; and when the father of a family dies, if he 
was a man of the higher ranks, his relations come 
' Pluto, the God of the Infernal regions. 



THE DRUIDS. 171 

together, and if there is any suspicion about the 
manner of his death, his wives are subjected to the 
torture, like slaves ; and if the fact is proved, they are 
put to death by fire, and all kinds of torments. The 
funerals of the Gauls are sumptuous and splendid, 
in proportion to their civilization; every thing, in 
which a man was supposed to take pleasure whilst 
he was alive, is placed with him on the funeral pile, 
even animals : and not long ago, the slaves and 
dependents, whom he most liked, were burnt along 
with him. 

" In those states which are thought to be the best 
regulated, it is ordained by their laws, that if any one 
hears any thing which concerns the government from 
the neighbouring people, he shall immediately com- 
municate it to the magistrates, and to no other person, 
on account of the panic, which is often caused by 
alarms among the vulgar, driving them to act hastily, 
and to interfere in the public counsels. By these 
means the magistrates conceal whatever they think 
proper, and proclaim to the people only whatever they 
think expedient. It is unlawful to discuss public 
matters, except in the public assemblies." 

This account, as given by Caesar, is by far the most 
detailed, which remains to us from antiquity concern- 
ing the Druids. Two other passages, however, occur 
about ten years later, in the works of Diodorus tSiculus 
and Strabo, and it is worthy of remark, that in both of 
these authors, and indeed in all the classical notices of 
the Druids which exist, the relerence is made to the 
Druids of Gaul, and not of Britain. As the three 
passages of Cicsar, Diodorus, and Strabo, contain all 
that remain concerning the Druids antecedent to the 



172 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

Christian sera, it is unnecessary to apologize for in- 
serting these extracts entire. 

The words of Diodorus are these : 

" There are among them [the Gauls] composers of 
verses whom they call Bards ; these, singing to instru- 
ments similar to lyres, applaud some, while they 
vituperate others. There are also certain philoso- 
phers and priests surpassingly esteemed, whom they 
call Druids. They have also soothsayers, who are 
held in high estimation ; and these, by auguries and 
the sacrifice of victims, foretel future events, and hold 
the commonalty in complete subjection : and more 
especially, when they deliberate on matters of moment, 
they practise a strange and incredible rite ; for having 
devoted a man for sacrifice, they strike him with a 
sword on a part above the diaphragm : the victim 
having fallen, they augur from his mode of falling, the 
contortion of his limbs, and the flowing of the blood, 
what may come to pass ; giving credence concerning 
such things to an ancient and long-standing ob- 
servance. They have a custom of performing no 
sacrifice unattended by a philosopher. For they say, 
that thanksgiving should be offered to the gods by 
men acquainted with the Divine nature, and using the 
same language, and by these they deem it necessary to 
ask for good things ; and not only in the concerns of 
peace, but even of war, not friends alone, but even 
enemies also, chiefly defer to them and to the com- 
posers of verses. Frequently, during hostilities, when 
armies are approaching each other with swords drawn 
and lances extended, these men rushing between them 
put an end to their contentions, laming them as they 
would tame wild beasts \" 

^ Diod. Sic. V, 31, 



BARDS — VATES— DRUIDS. 173 

Strabo's account is very similar to both tlie fore- 
going- : 

" Among the Gauls three classes are more especially 
held' in veneration, the Bards, Vates, and Druids. The 
Bards are singers and poets : the Vates are sacrificers 
and physiologists : the Druids, in addition to philo- 
sophy, study moral philosophy also. They ai'e 
esteemed persons of great integrity, and are on that 
account entrusted with the decision of quarrels both 
public and private, insomuch that they have sometimes 
stopped battles when the combatants were on the 
point of engaging. Trials for murder are more espe- 
cially committed to their decision. They consider the 
soul to be immortal, and also the world, but that 
ultimately fire and water will prevail. To a simple but 
passionate character, they unite much silliness, arro- 
gance, and love of ornament. They wear golden 
chains round their necks, bracelets on their arms and 
wrists, and persons of importance are clothed in dyed 

garments embroidered with gold They strike the 

man destined for sacrifice on the back with a sword, 
and draw their auguries from his palpitations. They 
never sacrifice unless the Druids are present. We 
are told that there are other kinds of human sacrifice 
in use among them : some of the victims are slain 
with arrows, others are crucified; after which they 
prepare a colossal figure of hay, and having thrown 
wood on it, they burn thereon oxen, all kinds of wild 
beasts, and men together." 

These extracts almost exhaust the subject which 
now occupies us, for in the passages which are found 
in works later than the Christian iura, the lanauaoe is 
little more than a Repetition of the former. Thus the 
geogi'aphcr Poniponius Mela seems to have had 



174 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

before him the accounts of preceding writers, when 
he wrote the following". 

" The Gauls have a species of eloquence peculiar 
to themselves, and the Druids are its teachers. These 
profess to know the size and form of the earth, and 
the universe, the motions of the heavens and of the 
stars, and the intentions of the immortal Gods. They 
take the young nobles of their tribe under their tuition, 
and teach them many things in secret. Their studies 
last a long time, as much as twenty years, in caves or 
the depths of the forests. One of their tenets which 
has transpired is the immortality of the soul, and the 
existence of a future state, which inspire them with much 
additional courage in war. As a result of this doctrine, 
they burn and bury with their dead all those things 
which were adapted for them when living. In former 
times they carried their accounts with them to the 
grave, and their claims of debts; and some of them 
would even burn themselves on the same funeral pyre 
with their friends, that they might be with them in a 
future life." 

The Celtic nations admitted women as well as men 
into the ministry of their superstitions. One of the 
most remarkable instances is furnished by the same 
author in his account of the Prophetesses of Sena. 

" Sena," says he, " in the British sea, lies over 
against the coasts of the Oxismii, and is famous for an 
oracle of the Gallic Deity, whose priestesses are said 
to be nine in number, and to be hallowed by perpetual 
virginity. They are called Gallicense, and are thought 
to possess singular powers, such as raising the seas 
and winds by their incantations, changing themselves 

" Mela iii. 2. 



PROPHETESSES OF SENA. 175 

into whatever kind of animals they please, and curing 
diseases which are elsewhere regarded as incurable. 
They are also said to know and to foretel future events, 
but they will not communicate this knowledge to any 
one but sailors, and not even to them, unless they 
expressly go to consult them." 

These Prophetesses were no doubt connected in 
some way with the Druids, in the practice and manner 
of their superstitions. 

We now come to the natural historian Pliny, who 
lived and wrote near the end of the first century of the 
Christian era. His voluminous work comprises almost 
every subject connected with the state of science, 
natural productions, and other phsenomena of the 
different countries of the world. He speaks as follows 
of the Druids : 

" The Druids, who are the magi of Gaul, esteem 
nothing more sacred than the mistletoe, and the tree 
on which it grows, if only it is an oak. Indeed they 
choose out groves of oaks, and use their leaves in all 
theu' sacred rites, so that their very name, Druids, may 
seem to be derived from the Greek name for oak. 
Every thing which grows upon those trees is considered 
by them as sent from heaven, and a sign that the tree 
is chosen by the Deity Himself. But the mistletoe is 
very rare to find, and when found, is sought with great 
avidity; particularly on the sixth moon, which, among 
these nations, makes the beginnings of their months 
and years, and of a generation after thirty years, because 
it then has abundance of strength, though not yet half 
of its full size. They call it in their language, * All- 
heal,' and when they have made ready their sacrifices 
and banquets under the tree, they bring up two white 
bulls, whose horns are then bound for the first time. 



176 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRlTONSo [CHAP. XI. 

A priest clothed in a white robe ascends the tree, and 
with a golden pruning-knife, lops off the bough, which 
is caught in a white towel. Then they immolate the 
victims, praying that God may prosper the gift to all 
who shall partake of it : for they think that by partak- 
ing of it as a drink, barren animals are rendered fertile, 
and all kinds of poisons are deprived of the power to 
harm^" 

Another herb is named by Pliny, as also used by 
the Druids, though not held sacred like the mysterious 
mistletoe: he calls it selago«^, and says that they con- 
sidered it an antidote to every thing pernicious, and 
its smoke to be a remedy for diseases of the eyes. 

But of all the superstitions of the Druids, that 
which Pliny tells us of the anguinum or serpent's egg, 
is the most extraordinary and inexplicable. 

" Innumerable serpents get together in the summer, 
and form it artificially by the saliva from the jaws and 
the foam from their bodies. The Druids say that it is 
projected with hisses into the air, and ought to be 
caught in a cloth without being suffered to touch the 
ground. The man who takes it should make his 
escape on horseback, for the serpents will pursue him, 
until a river flows between them, when they are stopped. 
A proof of this is its swimming against water even if 
bound with gold. It is further said, that, as magicians 
are sagacious in concealing their fraud, the angui- 
num ought to be taken during a certain moon, as if 
human foresight could divine when the serpents would 
operate. I have indeed seen the egg as big as a 
middle sized round apple, with a covering of cartilage 
like the numerous claws or the arms of a polypus, and 
worn by the Druids. It is said to give success in law- 
^ Plin. Nat. Hist. xvi. 95. ' Ibid. xxiv. 62, 63. 



THE DRUIDS. 177 

suits and access to kings: so extraordinary is the 
absurdity of it, that a Roman knight of Voconti^e, who 
had it in his bosom at a hiwsuit, was to my certain 
knowledge put to death for that, and no other reason, 
by the deified emperor Claudius ^" 

If we may judge by these examples, well might Pliny 
say, " The art of magic has seized last hold on the 
Gauls, even down to our times:" and he might have 
added, that the emperor must have been as weak as 
they, if he supposed that the practice of so foolish a 
superstition could give any advantage over an adver- 
sary in the conduct of a suit. We can hardly doubt 
that the Roman who suffered was punished for lending 
himself to a base and prohibited superstition, for the 
same emperor had publicly abolished Druidism, and 
all its practices. " For the reign of Tiberius [Claudius] 
Caesar," says Pliny, " put an end to the Druids, and to 
all that class of bards and healers:" and the same fact 
is recorded by Suetonius, and at a later period by 
Aurelius Victor. 

The last writer in chronological order who names 
the Druids and their doctrines is Ammianus Marcelli- 
nus, who briefly follows preceding writers", and describes 
them as divided into three classes^ designated respec- 
tively as Bards, Druids, and J^^uhages. This last name 
has given some trouble to critics ; it has perhaps under- 
gone corruption during the many hundred years that 
the writings of Ammianus lay in manuscript, and it is now 
perhaps too late to detect the true reading. The class 
of men described by it are called Vates by otiier authors, 
which is by the Greek writers turned into Greek by 
OTATH3, [ouhates]. It would not ho dillicult iW 

■' Ibul. xxix. 12. ' A mill. Marc, w :), 



178 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIo 

an ignorant copyist to write ETArHS [euhages], which 
might easily become the form which occurs in Ammianus, 
From these accounts it appears, that the rehgious 
system of the Druids received its death-blow in Gaul, 
from the edict of Claudius : but that in Britain, where 
it also prevailed, it is hardly wonderful that the Romans 
should not have extirpated it so soon, because it was 
only in the reign of Claudius that they began to gain 
a permanent footing in the island. Forty years later 
the Druids and the female prophetesses, who made pro- 
fession of the same religious rites, endeavoured, in the 
isle of Mona or Anglesey, to make a final stand against 
the army of Suetonius Faullinus. The contest was 
unfavourable, the sacred groves were destroyed, and 
the Druids slaughtered without mercy. If the super- 
stition revived afterwards in Britain, history is never- 
theless silent on the fact ; and we can be consoled for 
the sudden extirpation of the religion of our fore- 
fathers, by the conviction, that a creed so worthless, 
proscribed by a people generally so liberal as the 
Romans, could have nothing but what was prejudicial 
to the happiness and interests of mankinds 

' Pliny [Nat. Hist. xxx. 4.] is the only writer besides Tacitns, 
who alludes to the Druids in Britain. " Why should I sjjeak thus 
of an art [magic] which has spread even beyond the sea, and to the 
extremities of nature ? Britain cultivates it with so much enthu- 
siasm, and with so many ceremonies, that we may fancy it was from 
thence that the art was communicated to the Persians." If this was 
written after the slaughter of the Druids in Anglesey, which took 
place in A.D. 68, it shews that the tuperstiiion still survived, though 
it did not attract the attention of historians as before. Richard of 
Cirencester, who wrote about the year 1400, takes notice of the 
Druids, but the only new information which he gives us is the 
interpretation of the names of the British Deities. Mars, he tells us, 
was called Viiucadrus, or, as it appears in an ancient inscription, 
Bitucadrus ; Victory was called Andate; and Justice, Adraste. 



CHAP. XII. 



WHETHER CHRISTIANITY WAS INTRODUCED INTO BRITAIN BEFORE 
A.D. 120. — ST. PAUL — ST. PETER— SIMON ZELOTES— POMPONIA 
GR;ECINA — CLAUDIA — GILDAS. 



It has long been a question among the learned, 
whether Christianity was introduced into the British 
isles before the period to which our narrative is now 
arrived. In order to enter upon this question with 
a greater chance of bringing it to a satisfactory issue, 
it seems necessary to take a brief view of the facts, 
which have come down to us in the Book of the Acts, 
and in the letters of the Apostles. Not that we shall 
find in those writings the slightest allusion to Britain, 
or the most distant notice of its conversion to Cliris- 
tianity : but we shall at all events gather from such 
a process all the facts which the first teachers of 
Christianity have recorded concerning their labours, 
and so be the better prepared to determine, whether 
the other v^^riters, nearly contemporary witli the Apo- 
stles, or following them after an interval of many 
years, are worthy of credit, on the score of their 
assertions being consistent with the first Christian 
records, or with the nature of the case. 

That Christianity in Europe, like Mohamedanism 
in Asia and Africa, spread most rapidly through the 
different countries, and has continued to be the pre- 
n2 



180 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XII. 

vailing religion, is a fact so striking in the history of 
man, that it well deserves to be duly examined and 
considered by historians of every European country. 
To trace the smallest source of information, and to 
gather up every fragment of tradition, which may 
throw light on the subject, is the imperative duty of 
every one who writes on the early affairs of Europe. 
But in fulfilling this task, it is incumbent upon him 
to exercise the greatest caution and discrimination. 
To admit a probability as a fact, is a criminal per- 
version of historic truth, and has been the fertile 
source of error. In the absence of positive evidence, 
events must remain in their original uncertainty, and, 
if possible, in the exact form in which we first meet 
with them. To alter their appearance, may be highly 
dangerous to truth, and lead future writers to give 
a false interpretation of them : hence error is propa- 
gated, and mankind are led to adopt a falsehood which 
suits their tastes or their convenience, but which is 
entirely the produce of the imagination, having no 
foundation in fact. 

'' It is very possible," says Mosheim% " that the 
light of Christianity may have reached Trans-Alpine 
Gaul, now called France, before the conclusion of the 
Apostolic age, either by the ministry of the Apostles 
themselves, or their immediate successors. But we 
have no records, that mention with certainty the 
establishment of Christian Churches in this part of 
Europe before the second century." If this is the 
case with Gaul, we should naturally conclude that 
Britain, which was more remote from the original scene 
of the Apostolic labours, would receive Christian mis- 
sions at a later period still than Gaul. But this pro- 

" Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 135. 



A. D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. ISI 

bability, which would be useful to confirm positive 
evidence, in the absence of all direct testimony, is of 
little weight. Tt appears from the New Testament \ 
that soon after Christ's crucifixion, the number of His 
followers amounted to about 120. On the day of 
Pentecost'', it is said, that about 3000 souls were added 
to the Church. This occurred in the same year as the 
crucifixion, about which authors differ, some placing- 
it, according to our chronology, in the year A.D. 29, 
whilst others, among whom is Eusebius, bring it down 
to the year A.D. 33. Within another short space of 
time, the number of believers is reckoned at 5000', 
either of new converts, or of the whole body. After 
this, — but of the exact time we are not informed, — there 
was " a great persecution against the Church which 
was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad 
throughout the regions of Judsea and Samaria, except 
the Apostles ^" Then Philip, one of the twelve, 
preached the Gospel at Samaria', and again at Gaza, 
Azotus, and Caesarea", all within the district of the Holy 
Land. 

To this follows Saul's jour|j^y to Damascus'", whither 
he went to. persecute all Christians whom he should 
find in that city: but of the date of this journey we 
have no mention, and it is unsafe to adopt the state- 
ments of the chronologists, who, writing after many 



'' Acts i. 15. " Acts ii. 41. '' Acts iv. 4. 

• Acts viii. 1. The difGculty of asceriaining the date in these 
cases arises from the use of those vague expressions, And in tJiose 
days, S(c. Acts vi. 1. At that time, Acts viii. 1, &c. To this cause is 
justly ascribed the impossibility of reducing the events recorded in 
the Gospels to chronological order. 

•■ Acts viii. .5. '^ Acts viii. 2(3. '' Acts i.\. 1. 



]82 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [OH, XII. 

years, have, for the sake of order and harmony, affixed 
that year which seemed to them to suit the history with 
the' greatest semblance of truth. This journey, how- 
ever, ended in Saul's conversion; and at a later date 
he exchanged his name from Saul to Paul, by which 
he is more generally known. 

After his return to Jerusalem, and subsequent journey 
to Tarsus, his native city, " the Churches had rest' 
throughout all Judsea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and 
were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and 
in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." 
Tlie journeys of Peter to Lydda and Joppa, and of 
Barnabas to Antioch, need not detain us; but the men- 
tion of Agabus, who foretold the dearth which happened 
in the reign of Claudius, enables us to fix the foregoing- 
events as having probably preceded the year A.D. 41, 
in which that emperor succeeded to the throne. 

About that time, Herod Agrippa, appointed king by 
Claudius, persecuted the Church, and put to death 
James the brother of John''. Soon afterwards, Barna- 
bas and Paul set out together on their first mission 
through Asia, and visite%Seleucia, Cyprus, Antioch in 
Pisidia, Perga in Pamphylia, Iconium, Lystra, and 
Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, Phoenicia, and Galilee ^ 

Shortly after this first journey, Paul and Barnabas 
quarrelled, and parted company. Barnabas with Mark, 
about whom the quarrel had arisen, sailed to Cyprus : 
Paul chose Silas for his future associate™, and visited 
Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, and Troas. Here they crossed 
int9 Europe, and visited Philippi, Amphipolis, Apol- 
lonia, Thessalonica, Bereea, Athens, and Corinth, where 

' Acts ix. 31. ''■ Acts xii. 1. ' Acts xiii. xiv. 

"" Acts XV. 39, &c. 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 183 

he remained a year and six months"; sailin<^ thence to 
Asia, wliere he remained about two years", principally 
at Ephesus. After this, in consequence of the uproar 
made against him by the votaiies of Diana, headed by 
Demetrius the silversmith, Paul left Epliesus, and 
again crossed to Macedonia and Greece; but after re- 
maining there three months, he returned to Troas, 
and toucliing at the islands and cities v/hich lie along 
the Asiatic coast, Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos, 
Miletus, Ephesus, Cos, Rhodes and Patara,Tyre, Ptoie- 
mais, and Csesarea, he lastly reached Jerusalem in time 
to assist at the celebration of the Passover p. 

A short time after the arrival of Paul, tumults arose 
on his account at Jerusalem, and at the end of two 
more years, Felix the procurator of Judaea was recalled 
by Nero, and Porcius Festus was appointed in his 
place. It was by this Festus, in conjunction with King 
Agrippa, that Paul was sent to Rome to be heard 
before the tribunal of Caesar, to which he had appealed. 
The time occupied by the voyage, the shipwreck, and 
the three months' delay at Melite, may have occupied 
nearly half a year, and the last fact recorded in the 
book of the Acts is, that on his arrival at Rome, Paul 
" dwelt two whole years" there " in his own hired house, 
and received all tliat came in unto him, preaching the 
kingdom of God, and teaching those things which 
concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no 
man forbidding him." 

These last words, " no man forbidding him," lead 
us with some degree of certainty to conclude, that 
St. Paul came to Rome, before the persecution of 

" Acts xviii. II. " Acts xix. 10. '' Acts xxi. 17. 



184 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XII- 

the Christians, which took place in A. D. 64, being 
the eleventh year of Nero's reign ij but whether his 
stay in Rome occupied the last two years immediately 
preceding the breaking out of that persecution, is a 
point about which different writers have formed differ- 
ent opinions. But it is satisfactorily shewn by Clinton, 
in his Fasti Romani, that, if St. Paul perished, as is 
related by ecclesiastical writers, in a persecution of the 
Christians at Rome by Nero, he perished in the year 
65, and not at a later period, during a supposed second 
visit to the capital. 

Of the events which marked the progress of Chris- 
tianity, and by which it was propagated after the year 
64, the books of the New Testament give us little or 
no information. St. Paul's Epistles are estimated to 
have been written, some earlier, and some a little later, 
than his imprisonment at Rome, but these opinions 
are mere conjectures, and adduce no positive testimony 
for their support. It is also of little use to enquire 
what progress had been made in the teaching of 
Christianity by the other Apostles, for no contemporary 
records of them remain. It is evident, from the con- 
clusion of St. Peter's first Epistle, that the writer was 
then at, or near, Babylon, and the mention of his son 
Mai'cus seems to imply that he was settled there with 
his family; for to suppose that Rome is designated 
under the name of Babylon, and that Marcus was the 
Apostle's son, only as a convert and by reason of his 
piety, is inconsistent with the plain words of the nar- 
rative, which is of the most simple character, and has 
nothing in it either of metaphor or allegory. But, if 
we are to believe ecclesiastical writers, St. Peter was 

1 Tacitus, Aniialf, xv. 44. 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 185 

afterwards put to death in Rome A.D. 65, together 
with St. Paiih. 

We are equally in the dark concerning tlie ad- 
ventures which befel James, Jude, and John, notwith- 
standing that Epistles still remain, said to have been 
written by them, and that the book of Revelation is 
said to have been written by John no less than thirty 
years after the period when the history of the Acts 
terminates. Nothing, however, occurs in any of these 
writings which will lead us to the knowledge which we 
are seeking, nor will it avail us to recur to the Epistles 
of St. Paul, in the hope of finding any thing contained 
therein which will throw light upon the latter portion 
of his life. 

In his Epistle to the Hebrews, written, according to 
the subscription found at the end of it, from Italy by 
Timothy', Paul expresses his intention of going to 
Judsea '. 

In his Epistle to Titus % he alludes to having been 
in Crete : " For this cause left I thee in Crete, 
that thou shouldest set in order the things that are 
wanting." 

In his Epistle to the Philippians", he says, " Having 
this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue 
with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith :" 
which words have been adduced to authorize the in- 



■■ See Clinton's Fasti Roinani, p. 40, and tlie autliorilies there 
quoted. 

' These subscriptions cannot, bo depended upon, fur they often 
contradict, statements found in the body of the writing : but further, 
great doubts have always been entertained of the genuineness of the 
Kpistle to the Hebrews, princii)ally because in its style of coinincnce- 
luenl ii dill'ers from all the other Mpistlcs of St. Paul. 

' Heb. xiii. 23. " Til. i. 5. " Phil. i. 25. 



186 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XI. 

ference that he probably visited Corinth and Phihppi 
in the year 65 y." 



5' The author of " Researches into the ecclesiastical and ijolitical 
state ^of Ancient Britain, under the Roman EnijDerors, 2 vols, 8vo. 
London, Cadell, 1843," has the following passage on the supposed 
travels of St. Paul, after his first intprisonment at Rome. The 
reader will perceive that it, is based on the supposition of St. Paul's 
having suffered during a second visit to Rome, and is, of course, in- 
consistent with the chronology of Mr. Fynes Clinton. " After 
sojourning in other cities of Greece, he arrived at Nicopolis in Epirus, 
towards the end of the autumn of the year 65, and thence addressed 
his Epistle to Titus. In Nicopolis he passed the winter. (Tit. iii. 12.) 
In the beginning of the year 66, he probably visited Judaea, a'-:d 
afterwards Troas; at which last place he left, as he tells us, the cloak 
with Carpus, together with his books and parchments. (2 Tim. iv. 13.) 
From Troas he proceeded, I think, to Colosse, and thence to the 
neighbouring city of Laodicea; from which last place, as the sub- 
scription tells us, he addressed his first Epistle to Timotheus. From 
Laodicea, the Apostle proceeded to Miletus; in which city he left 
Trophimus sick, and departed himself on his final journey to Rome. 
It is not probable that the Apostle visited Ephesus upon this occa- 
sion, or indeed at all, after his first imprisonment at Rome. I know 
that some writers have supposed that the fact was otherwise, from an 
expression to Timotheus in his first Epistle. '• I besought thee to 
abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia." But surely 
such a request might have been conveyed to Timotheus, by a message 
from the Apostle from Crete or Corinth. I think, moreover, that the 
very solemn expression used by St, Paul some years before at Miletus, 
" I know that ye shall see my face no more," renders it improbable 
that he should again have visited Ephesus. The immediate object of 
St. Paul's second and last journey to Rome is not known. But, as 
the persecution under Nero had for a time abated, he might naturally 
desire to visit a city in which he had many converts — a city which 
offered so wide afield for his Christian labours, and where the circum- 
stances of the infant Church might particularly require his presence. 
He might also wish to converse with St. Peter, who is supposed to 
have arrived at Rome a little before this period. Nero was at this 
time absent from his capital; but had delegated his authority to 
Helius, a wretch who too nearly resembled his master. The perse- 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 187 

But these passages, and a lew others which might be 
mentioned, are too vague to allow of our deriving from 
them any reasonable probability that the Apostle 
visited these places, and we may conclude generally, 
from the review here made of the books of the New 
Testament, that they do not warrant the assertion, that 
the Apostolic labours were extended beyond the coun- 
tries of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, before the year 
of our Lord 64, or about the thirty-first year after the 
crucifixion. 

Let us turn to other writers who have come next in 
order to the times of the Apostles. The first of these 
is Clement of Rome, as he is styled, who is the sup- 
posed author of two Epistles to the Corinthians, and 
is said to have been the disciple of Saint Luke : 
" Through zeal," says he^ " Paul obtained the reward 
of endurance, having been several times loaded with 
ciiains, banished, stoned; and having preached both 
in the east and in the west, he carried a noble reputa- 
tion for his faith, having instructed the whole world 
in righteousness, and arrived at the extremity of the 
west; and, having suffered martyrdom under the pra3- 
fects, he thus quitted this world, and proceeded to the 
heavenly places, after having been a most signal ex- 
ample of patience." It has been said by some, that by 
the west are meant the British isles; but such an inter- 
pretiition does not merit a serious answer, and we must 

cution of the Chrisliiuis was, upon the roLuvn of Neiu, reuewLd with 
greater violence than at tirst. 8t. Paul, who had been apprehended, 
and probably consigned to the Wamerline prison, was now subjected 

to severer confinement than upon the fonncr occasion 

Although a diilerence of opinion exists on the subject, ii is most 
probable that Si. I'aul sullered martyrdom in the year 67, the last 
year of the monster Nero." 

' Clem. Rojii. I'',p. I. ad Corintli. c;ip. 5. in I'atrcs Ai)Ostolici. 



188 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XII. 

pass over another 100 years, until we come to Tertullian , 
who hvecl about the year 200. He has the following 
passage in his work against the Jews'": " For on whom 
have all nations believed, except in Christ, who is already 
come? On whom also other nations have believed, 
Parthians, Jews, and the rest ; also the various tribes 
of the Getulians, many tracts of the Moors, all the 
borders of Spain, the different nations of Gaul, and of 
the British isles, places inaccessible to the Romans, 
but in submission to Christ." 

Thirty years after Tertullian, comes Origen, who 
briefly alludes to the island of Britain in the two fol- 
lowing passages: " For when did the land of Britain 
ever unite in the belief of one God, before Christ 
came^?" And again, " The virtue of our Lord and 
Saviour is with those also who are separated from our 
world in Britain, and with those who are in Mauritania, 
and with all under the sun who have believed on His 
NameV 

The next ecclesiastical writer from whom we might 
have expected a notice of the conversion of Britain, if 
it had taken place in the times of the Apostles, is Euse- 
bius^ who merely says in his Ecclesiastical History*^, 
" What need is there to speak of Paul, who, having 
fulfilled his evangelical office from Jerusalem even to 
lUyricum, at length suffered martyrdom at Rome under 
Nero." Another opportunity was afforded him in his 
Evangelical Demonstration : but his language is alike 
vague and unsatisfactory: " That some of them [the 
disciples] should reach the Roman territory .... and 
that others should cross the ocean to the isles called 

" TertuU. adv. Jud. 7. ^ Orig. Commeut. in Mauh. 

vol. ii. p. 448. ed. Delavue. ''■ Ejusdein operis pag. 939. 

*■ Euseb. Hist. Ecc. iii. 1. 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 189 

Bretannic, I can no longer think to be the work of 
man, much less of poor and mean men, least of all of 
deceivers and impostors"." 

Seventy years later than Eusebius flourished Chry- 
sostom, whose voluminous writings furnish us with two 
passages only, which bear the slightest allusion to the 
British islesj and though they both concern the intro- 
duction of Christianity into these islands, yet the 
writer confines himself to a few words of general sig- 
nification. " For the British isles also," says he, 
" which lie beyond this sea of ours, and are situated in 
the very ocean, have felt the power of the word. For 
there also churches and altars have been established'." — 
Wherever you go, to the Indians, to the Moors, to the 
Britons, to the whole world, you will find, " In the 
beginning was the word, and a virtuous life^." 

Neither do we find more than two notices of Britain 
in the works of Jerome, who lived at the same time, 
and has left behind him three times as many writings 
as Chrysostom. " The Briton," says he, " separated 
from our world, if he has made much progress in 
religion, leaves the western sun, and seeks a place 
[Jerusalem] that he knows only by report, and the 
authority of the holy Scriptures''." And again, "The 
heavenly mansion is equally open from Jerusalem and 
from Britain'." But in a passage of another work, the 
same writer, in speaking of St. Paul's travels, might 
have had an excellent opportunity ol" declaring that 
the Apostle had been in Britain, if it had been the 
received o})inion in Jerome's own time, that that 
island received Christianity from St. Paul. " Having 

•^^ Euseb. Deui. Evan. iii. 7. ' Cliiysost. con. Jud. 

K Chrysost. Scnn. in Pen. '' Hieron. Episf. 44. 

' Hieron. Epist. 49. 



190 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. Xli. 

been in Spain," says the writer, " 8t. Paul went from 
one ocean to another, imitating the motion and course 
of the Sun of Righteousness, of whom it is said, ' His 
going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit 
unto the ends of it;' and that his dihgence in preach- 
ing extended as far as the earth itself"." In another 
passage, Jerome says, that " St. Paul, after his im- 
prisonment, preached the Gospel in the western parts ^" 

But all these modes of expression are too indefinite 
to admit of the inference that St. Paul, or any other 
Apostle, ever visited the shore of Britain. On the 
contrary, it may with great probability be urged, that the 
Greek writer Jerome, and others also, meant no other 
than Italy or Spain, by the expression " the western 
parts." 

The next writer is Theodoret, who comes about fifty 
years after Jerome. We may quote the following- 
passages, as bearing upon our subject. " Afterwards he 
[Paul] arrived in Italy, and proceeding from thence to 
Spain, extended his aid to the islands which are situated 
in the sea"." " And they [the disciples] have per- 
suaded not only the Romans, and those subjected to 
their control, but also the Scythian and Sarmatian 
nations, the Indians Britons, Cimbri, and Ger- 
mans, and, to speak briefly, every nation and tribe of 
men, to receive the precepts of Him who was cruci- 
fied"." " And there came many who dv/elt in the 
farthest districts of the west, both Spaniards and 
Britons, the Gauls also who occupy the space between 
them°." 

^ Hierou. in Amos. c. v. iii. col. 1412. ' Hieron. de 

Script. Eccles. lorn. iv. part. 2. '" Comm. in Psalm 116. 

" Reliy. Hist, c. 36. " Serm. 9. de legibus. 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 191 

These extracts form " the most decided ophiion of any 
expressed by ancient ecclesiastical writers : but even this 
does not enable us, with the least degree of certainty, 
to claim St. Paul as the Apostle wlio preached the 
Gospel in Britain p." 

Neither is the authority of Dorotheus, or rather of 
the author who assumes his name, of sufficient weight 
to induce us to receive his statement about Simon the 
Zealot, which, if true, would invalidate all that has been 
said before in relation to St. Paul. 

" Simon the Zealot," says this writer, " having 
passed through all Mauritania, and the region of the 
Africans, and preached Christ, was afterwards crucified 
by them in Britain, and being made perfect by martyr- 
dom, was there buried''." 

This assertion, so boldly made by the writer at the 
distance of nearly 500 years after the event, and without 
the slightest authority of any preceding writer, is by 
all means to be rejected from the page of history, and 
must be classed among those audacious fables with 
which the first annals of the Christian religion have 
unfortunately been overlaid. 

To the same class of pious frauds, as they have been 
termed, but, as they would more justly be named, " of 
impious falsehoods," is to be referred the following 
extract from the Greek Menologics, a species of alma- 
nac, of which many varieties occur in collections of 
ancient manuscripts, but they are of a late date, and 
not to be received as authoritative in a question ol this 
kind. 

" The divine Apostle of Christ, Aristobulus, was 
one of the seventy disciples But when Paul ordaineil 

'* Thackeray, i. p. 81. ' Psciido-DurotlK.i Sviiopsi-^ 

Apostoloniin, til 12. 



192 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH, XII = 

bishops to every district, he ordained Aristobulus also, 
and sent him to the country of the Britons, who were 
wild and savage men, destitute of the faith. Never- 
theless, he went and preached Christ; and though he 
was sometimes beaten, at others dragged through the 
streets, and at others made a laughing stock, yet he 
persuaded many to come to Christ, and to be bap- 
tized. After which, having erected a church and 
ordained elders [presbyters or priests] and deacons 
therein, he ended his days." 

A second extract from the Greek Menologies, irrecon- 
cilable, it would appear, with the former, is as follows : 
" He [Peter] then went to Britain: where, making a 
long stay, and turning many of the nameless nations 
there to the faith of Christ, he beheld an angelic 
vision . . . and having glorified and given thanks to 
God for it, and having remained certain days in Britain, 
and enlightened many with the word of grace, having 
erected churches and appointed bishops, priests, and 
deacons j in the twelfth year of Caesar [Nero], he again 
returned to Rome." 

These are all the passages extracted from ancient 
writers, in which notice is taken of the British isles, in 
respect of their first conversion to Christianity, down 
to the sixth century of the Christian era. Four 
hundred years later we have the assertion of Simeon 
Metaphrastes, that St. Peter spent twenty-three years 
at Rome, in Britain, and in other countries of the west; 
and in particular that he resided long in Britiiin, where 
he converted many nations, founded many churches, 
and ordained bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and that 
he returned to Rome in the twelfth year of the emperor 
Nero, i. e. in A. D. Q^ — &Q>. This account, however, 
is of no more authority than that ol' Dorotheus, or of 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 193 

the Greek Menologies, as it is given by a writer of the 
tenth century, and receives not the sHghtest support 
from preceding historians. 

After what has been advanced, the reader will pro- 
bably come to the conclusion that neither St, Paul, 
8t. Peter, Simon Zelotes, or any other Apostle, preached 
the Gospel in Britain, and that the continual wars 
which arose between its inhabitants and their Roman 
invaders, were not likely to leave much room for the 
peaceful tenets of Christianity, before the commence- 
ment of the second century. But the assertions which 
the monks have ventured to make on this subject are 
of a most extraordinarily bold and impudent character. 
Whilst some of them gladly availed themselves of the 
few historical notices which we have been discussing, 
others in defiance, it would seem, of truth, and in 
contempt of historical authority, have not hesitated 
to claim Joseph of Arimathaea, and others, as the 
first preachers of the Gospel in Britain. Archbishop 
Usher devotes the whole of a long chapter to the 
investigation of this question. But here, as well as in 
other parts of his work, the Primate " seems to forget 
the maxim of Euripides, whom himself had quoted with 
approbation : 

(Tuifppovns S' dwia-Tias 

OvK eaTiu oiiSeV ^prja-ifiwTfpov ^porols. 
Nothing to mortal man more safe 
Than wise distrust. 

Bishop Stillingfleet, Dr. Henry, and others, have so 
completely exposed these fictions of the Glastonbury 
monks, that they cannot require any further refu- 
tation '." 

' Thackeray, vol. i. p. 84. 
O 



194 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XII. 

Without therefore wasting words on what appears 
so little to deserve attention, let us proceed to consider 
the case of certain ladies who are said to have been 
resident at Rome at the time of St. Paul's captivity, 
and by whose agency, it has been thought, the Britons 
may first have been converted to the Christian faith. 
The first of these was Pomponia Graecina, wife of 
Aulus Plautius, the first Roman governor in Britain, 
and the general whose arms had so much contributed 
to the conquest of the island. The account which 
Tacitus gives us of this lady is as follows : " Pomponia 
Grsecina, an illustrious lady, the wife of Aulus Plau- 
tius, (who, upon his return from Britain, had been 
honoured with an ovation,) being accused of having 
embraced a foreign superstition, her trial was com- 
mitted to her husband. He, according to the ancient 
institutions of Rome, having made solemn enquiry in 
the presence of her relations, respecting any charges 
affecting her life and reputation, pronounced her 
innocent. After this, Pomponia's life was protracted 
through a long course of melancholy years ^" It has 
been thought, that the foreign superstition which 
Pomponia had embraced was Christianity, for it is 
argued, that the same writer elsewhere describes the 
religion of the Christians as a superstition, and that 
by the long course of melancholy years in which her 
life terminated, he means no more than to describe 
the apparent asceticism with which the Christians ab- 
stained from the public shows and festivities. Those 
who argue that Pomponia had become a Christian, 
suppose that she must, from her having been in 
Britain with her husband, have felt an interest in 
its welfare, and have exerted herself to communicate 

" Tac. Ann. xiii. c. 32. 



A.B. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 1D5 

to the natives the sunie beiiefu^ent doctrines which 
she had herself embraced. But this seiies of pro- 
babihties is too loosely connected to stand the test of 
criticism. It is in the lirst place far from certain, that 
the historian designates Christianity by the terms, " a 
foreign superstition," for the religions of the Egyp- 
tians, and of many other nations, were equally cha- 
racterised by the Romans as superstitions, because 
they were more debased than the forms which pre- 
vailed generally among themselves. But a more fatal 
objection to the argument arises from the comparison 
of dates. Pomponia was accused of having embraced 
a foreign superstition in the year 58, but Saint Paul 
did not arrive in Rome until five years later, and it is 
not likely, according to what we read in the Acts of 
the Apostles, that any other Christian missionaries 
had preceded him. If it were necessary to pursue the 
argument, it would be difficult to prove that Aulus 
Plautius and Pomponia Grsecina were married when 
Plautius commanded the army in Britain, or that 
Pomponia Grascina was ever in our island at all; so 
that her supposed interest in its inhabitants assumes 
a very shadowy character, and the wish to communicate 
to them the benefits of Christianity would, in all 
human probability, have but little influence with one, 
who, if ever in Britain, must have thought it a country 
of rude barbarians, and must in the course of ten 
years, since her return to Rome, have almost forgotten 
its existence. We can hardly suppose, that the first 
teachers and the first converts to Clnistianity adopted 
the preposterous conduct of our modern missionaries, 
who, neglecting vice and misery of the deepest dye at 
home, expend their own overflowing feelings, and 
o 2 



196 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ER]TONS. [CH. XII. 

exhaust the treasures of the benevolent, in carrying 
their deeds of charity to the Negro and the Hindoo. 

Let us proceed to examine the case of the other 
Lady, who is said to have contributed to the conversion 
of Britain to Christianity. This was Claudia Rufina, 
spoken of by Martial in the following lines : 

Claudia, of azure-painted Britons born. 

What Latian wit and Latian grace adorn ! 

Such forms might Rome among her daughters place. 

Or Attic matrons deem of Attic race*. 

From these expressions, it is probable that this 
Claudia was not a native of Britain, but the daughter 
of British parents, who were then living as hostages at 
Rome. From another epigram of Martial it appears, 
that the same Claudia was married to a person of the 
name of Pudens : 

O Rufus ! Pudens, whom I own ray friend. 

Has ta'en the foreign Claudia for his wife. 

Propitious Hymen 1 light thy torch, and send 

Long years of bliss to their united life''." 

We learn also from some other lines of this author, 
that Pudens was one who constrained the poet to 
correct any verses which he deemed too licentious : 

Pudens, at thy request again, 

O how can I refuse 
To take up my correcting pen. 

And check my erring muse ! 

From the same poet we may infer, that the father- 
in-law of Pudens was a man of even more serious 
character than himself^ : 

Rufus, forbear, I pr'ythee, friend. 
My verses to your father to commend : 

' Martial, Epig. xi. 54. " Martial, Epig. iv. 13, ' Martial, 
Epig. vii. 66. Thackeray, vol. i. p. 96. 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OFCHlllSTIANlTY. 197 

A graver stiain perhaps he may approve, 
As what his ;^raver feelings love. 

These facts have led critics to inter, tliat Pudens 
and his wife Chuidia are the same who are mentioned 
by Saint Paul in his second Epistle to Timothy : 
" Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and 
Claudia, and all the brethren." And it must be 
confessed, that the supposition appears at first sight 
reasonable. It may perhaps be observed, that there 
appears no reason why the names of Pudens and 
Claudia should be separated by St. Paul if they were 
man and wife; but this argument is not altogether 
conclusive, neither does chronology permit any ob- 
jection to the identification of these two persons. For 
Martial came to reside at Rome in the sixth year of 
Nero, about four years before vSt, Paul was brought 
prisoner from Judeea. But this circumstance, whilst 
it renders the identity of Pudens and Claudia by no 
means impossible, yet adds no force whatever to its 
probability, which is founded upon too narrow a basis 
to enable us to speak with certainty. The inference 
which may be fairly drawn from the argument amounts 
to no more than the fact, that a Roman lady, whose 
parents were British, embraced Christianity together 
with her husband. But that Claudia used any in- 
fluence in converting to Christianity the distant coun- 
try from which her parents drew their birth, is an 
inference which no principles of historical truth will 
waiTant us in drawing. 

It remains therefore to examine a i)assage in the 
work of Gildas, the British historian, who has left us 
a short sunnnary of some events which had occurred 
previous to the sixth century, when he lived and wrote. 
After alluding in vague and general terms (o the 



i&8 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XII, 

Roman conquest of Britain, and its transformation 
to the condition of a Roman province, he has thi& 
passage : 

" In the mean time, on this island— benumbed with 
icy coldness, and by a long tract of lands removed 
from the visible sun — that true Son, not the sun of 
the temporal firmament, but the Sun of the highest 
arch of Heaven, existing before all time, which mani- 
fested its brightness to the whole world dui'ing the 
latter part of the reign of Tibeiius Csesar, when, as 
we know, his religion was spread without impediment, 
though against the will of the Senate, the emperor 
threatening death to those w4io should accuse the 
soldiers of Jesns Cbnst — -that true Sun, Christ, be- 
stowed his rays, that is, his precepts." 

From tills passage, which it is almost impossible to 
put intelligibly into English, we can infer no more 
than that whilst the Roman povi^er was being con- 
solidated in Britain, the Christian religion, which look 
its origin from the latter part of the reign of Tiberius, 
was introduced into our island* But the precise 
period is not named, and the words of Gildas are 
applicable to almost any period until the latter part 
of the second century. 

We may therefore here briefly sum up the results of 
this enquiry. It appears, that we have no record of 
the introduction of Christianity into Britain, or even 
of its existence in the island, down to the year 120, 
when Hadrian erected his wall to keep off the Cale- 
donians. It may, however, be conceded as highly 
probable, that many Roman soldiers who served in 
Britain, or merchants who came for traffic, may have 
been converted as individuals to the Christian faith; 
but that any public mission had been sent, or general 



A.D. 120.] SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 199 

attempt been made, to convert the natives, may indeed 
enter into the human imagination to conceive, but is 
entirely beyond the reach of history to prove, and is 
completely at variance with the general character of 
events which were then passing in Britain, and which 
form the subject of our previous narrative. 



CHAP. XIII. 



REIGNS OF ANTONINUS PIUS — MARCUS AURELIUS — COMMODITS — 
LOLLIUS URBICUS — ULPIUS MARCELLUS— AND CLODIUS ALBINUS, 
GOVERNORS OF BRITAIN — LUCIUS, ONE OF THE TRIBUTARY KINGS 
OF THE BRITONS, CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY. 



The reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, prolonged to 
a greater duration than that of any of their pre- 
decessors, conferred inestimable benefits upon the 
whole empire, and probably averted for a time the 
tendency to decay to which it was rapidly hastening. 
It is also rather remarkable, that the virtuous emperors, 
who left behind them the love and regrets of their 
people, occur in many instances in a continued series, 
unbroken by the intervention of any of those monsters 
who at other times occupied and disgraced the im- 
perial throne. In no instance is this observation 
more remarkable, than in the reigns of Trajan, 
Hadrian, and the two Antonines, who ruled the 
Roman empire in comparative peace and happiness 
during the period of eighty-one years "". It has been 
shrewdly remarked, that those nations are the happiest 
which have no historians, for history delights in de- 
scriptions of blood and battles, which bring suffering 
to the people, whilst their annals are adorned with 
laurels. If we may apply this principle to ourpresent 

" From 99 to 180. 



A.D. 139.] ANTONINUS EMPEROR. 201 

subject, it may be inferred, that Britain participated in 
the happiness which the four good emperors conferred 
upon the whole workl. If, however, happiness was not 
the lot of the provincials in Britain, it is certain that 
they enjoyed a greater portion of tranquillity than at 
any previous or succeeding period. The annals of 
our country are exceedingly scanty during the whole 
of this time, and it is next to impossible to mahe out 
a continuous narrative. 

Hadrian died in the year 138, and was succeeded 
by Antoninus Pius, who is held up to us by writers as 
one of the most virtuous of men, and most beneficent 
of monarchs. It is in the hands of such a ruler that 
arbitrary power shews itself with the most grace : 
because, under the administration of such a master, 
virtue is then most sure of its reward, and vice seldom 
is allowed to go unpunished. Though Antoninus 
could not be present every where in his vast do- 
minions, yet his influence extended into the most 
distant parts; and we are assured, that the largest 
and fairest portion of the world, which owned the rule 
of Antoninus, prospered under his benevolent govern- 
ment to an extent that had never been reached since 
the days of the first emperor Augustus. 

But Antoninus never visited Britain, nor have we 
more than the briefest notices of the island during his 
reign. It has been said, that he maintained a fleet in 
Britain, of which Seius Saturninus was admiral: but for 
this assertion, our only authority is taken from a legal 
case quoted in the Roman laws from Javolenus, and is 
as follows : 

" Seius Saturninus, archigiihernus, [which may be 
interpreted either chief-pilot, or ship-master, as well as 
admiral,] and belonging to the liritish (leet, by a 



202 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

fiduciary testament left Valerius Maximus, captain of 
a trireme, his heir, requesting of him to give up the 
inheritance to Saturninus's son, Seius Oceanus, as 
soon as he should arrive at the age of sixteen. But 
Seius Oceanus died before he reached the required 
age; and Mallius Seneca, who called himself the uncle 
of Seius Oceanus, claimed the inheritance by virtue of 
proximity of blood. But the captain, Valerius Maxi- 
mus, retained the property for his own, on the plea of 
the youth being dead, to whom he was to have sur- 
rendered it." 

It is manifest that this passage contains nothing 
more than a point of law, arising between two private 
individuals, and furnishes no grounds for supposing 
that Seius Saturninus held any important naval com- 
mand in Britain. But we have two brief notices of 
what passed in Britain during the reign of Antoninus, 
which require a more deliberate notice. The Grecian 
geographer, Pausanias, who wrote at the time, says, 
" that Antoninus cut off more than half of the ter- 
ritory of the Brigantes in Britain, because they had 
invaded the tribe of Genuni, who were tributary to the 
Romans"." We learn also from the Augustan his- 
torian, Capitolinus, that Lollius Urbicus was the Ro- 
man lieutenant at this time in Britain, and that having 
expelled the northern barbarians, he erected a strong- 
rampart of turf across the island to restrain their 
future incursions". Now, as the Brigantes are uni- 
versally supposed to have occupied the north-western 
parts of England, to the south of the wall previously 
built by Hadrian, from Tynemouth to Bowness, we are 
led to suppose that, though thus included in tlie 
Roman province, they were suffered still to have their 

^ Pans. viii. 43, " Capitolinus De Anton. Pio, ch. 5, 



A.D. 161.] ANTONINUS EMPEROK. 203 

own rulers, and the right to govern themselves, in 
subordination to the Roman supremacy. It is useless 
to conjecture what cause may have led the Brigantes 
to assail another British tribe, the Genuni ; but we 
may with reason imagine, that the northern barbarians, 
beyond the wall, would gladly avail themselves of the 
discord of the provincial Britons to renew the war. 
But the Roman arms were still victorious, and the 
Roman province was again extended to the narrow 
line of frontier which lies between the friths of Forth 
and Clyde. This was the limit anciently of the con- 
quests of Agricola; and, though Hadrian had for 
a moment receded to a nearer and safer limit, yet 
it is believed, and with reason, that the successes of 
Lollius Urbicus recovered the large tract of territory 
which had been abandoned to the barbarians ^. 

Thus, though Antoninus Pius never set foot in our 
island, the glory of the Roman arms received a sensible 
augmentation in his reign, the lustre of which extended 
to himself, as the panegyrist Eumenius states it in his 
oration to Constantine, delivered a hundred and forty 
years later. " Hov/ refined was the good fortune of 
those emperors, who, sitting in their palaces at Rome, 
earned splendid triumphs and titles of honour from 
the nations which their generals subdued. Thus 
Fronto, second to none, but rather a revival of the 
ancient Roman eloquence, in giving to Antoninus the 
credit of happily finishing the war in Britain, bears 
witness, that he remained at home in his palace, and 
delegating his auspices to another, sat, as it were, at 

'' The cJas.sic;il notices of tho diflbroiil walls built in IJriiain lo 
exclude the Caledonians are extremely )ueagre. The reader is 
referred to Camden, Horsley, and other aiilhoritios, for more in- 
formation on this subjic I. 



204 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

the helm of the expedition, and merited the glory of 
its success "." 

Loilius UrbicLis, the victorious governor of Britain, 
returned to Rome, where he became prefect of the 
city, and in that capacity was connected with the 
persecution of the Christians which shortly afterwards 
was begun. 

The emperor Antoninus died in the year 161, after 
a reign of twenty-three years, and was succeeded by 
Marcus Aurelius, who married Faustina, the daughter 
of his predecessor. The new emperor united the 
qualities of a philosopher with those of a ruler : but 
suspicions have been thrown upon his integrity under 
both these appellations. The persecution of the 
Christians which, if not commanded by Aurelius, took 
place with his tacit consent, was a blot upon the fair 
reputation of his reign, which his profession of philo- 
sophy serves to aggravate rather than to eflace. But the 
principles of true liberality were little known at that 
time, nor was it until the Christians had in their turn 
become the persecutors, and many an unhappy heathen 
or heretic writhed beneath tortures imposed in the 
name of the mild and merciful Jesus, that mankind 
have at last come to the conviction, that religion is 
a matter between man and his Maker, and not to be 
coerced or regulated by politicians. 

Marcus Aurelius was hardly seated on the throne, 
before the barbarians of Caledonia in Britain, and of 
Germany on the continent of Europe, were reported to 
be in arms, and on the point of invading the empire in 
large numbers. The emperor adopted prompt mea- 
sures to meet the revolt. Aufidius Victorinus was 
dispatched against the Germans, and Calpurnius Agri- 
■^ Eiimciiius Pauec;. Const, diet. c. 10. 



A.D. ISO.] COMMODUS EMPEROR. 20^) 

cola was sent to take the command of the troops in 
Britain. The name of this general was in itself an 
omen of triumph; but we are not informed with what 
success he conducted the war against the Caledonians, 
or administered the affairs of the province. Nothing 
more occurs in history concerning events in Britain, 
until the death of Aurelius, and the accession of his 
worthless son Commodus, in the year of our Lord 180. 
This young man probably owed the selfish brutality of 
his character to the indulgent education which he had 
received from his parents. His mother Faustina, a 
model of female beauty, was more famed for the levities 
than the matronly virtues of her sex; and, though the 
harshness of Stoicism is not required to form the 
manners and discipline the mind of youth, yet the 
young prince probably saw enough of his mother's 
love of gratification and of his father's indifierence, to 
produce in his mind that inordinate selfishness which 
made himself the centre of all his thoughts, and the 
happiness of his people of no moment in comparison 
with his own personal gratifications. 

War sprung up on all sides to embarrass the reign 
of the young emperor. The barbarians beyond Dacia 
took up arms, but were successfully encountered by 
Niger and Albinus, who afterwards disputed with 
Severus the possession of the Roman empire. But 
the most serious v/ar which arose was in Britain, where 
the nations of the north passed the Roman wall which 
separated them from the province, and committed most 
extensive depredations. One Roman general who 
opposed them was cut to pieces with all his men ; and 
when the intelligence was conveyed to Commodus at 
Rome, he was so alarmed, that Ulpius Marcellus was 
sent in haste to take the conmiand of the armies in 



206 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIIL 

Britain, and to oppose the further march of the 
invaders. 

This general was a man of strong and extraordinary 
character : in his private mode of hving, he was mo- 
derate and frugal; and in both his food and dress 
recalled to mind the manly practices of the ancient 
Roman soldier. In military service, he conducted 
himself with remarkable nobleness of mind, and 
greatness of purpose. His integrity was undoubted, 
for he was entirely inaccessible to a bribe; but in 
personal manner he was any thing but mild or gentle. 
For vigilance, he was a model to all commanders, and 
could do with surprisingly little sleep at night; this 
made him anxious to render his officers equally alert 
and active as himself. To effect this object, he used 
to practise a singular stratagem: he caused twelve 
tablets to be made of soft wood, and on these he every 
evening wrote instructions to be sent round to his 
officers; but he took care that these tablets should be 
delivered at different hours of the night, in order that 
they might be impressed with the supposition that their 
commander was always awake, and so might themselves 
be more alert and ready for active service. His own 
indifference to sleep was the result of long habit, and 
was strengthened by the extraordinary moderation of 
his diet. He never partook of any food in large 
quantities, and the bread which he ate was such as 
had been brought with him from Rome, not because 
he disliked the bread of the province where he hap- 
pened to be, but that the staleness of the article might 
prevent him from carrying his appetite beyond the 
smallest quantity that would support nature: for his 
gums, naturally weak, bled if he ate a large quantity 
of stale bread; and this was a peculiarity which he 



A.D. 180.] UI.PIUS MARCELLUS GOVERNOR. 207 

rather encouraged, that he might keep himself ever 
active and vigilant. 

Such was Ulpius JMarcellus, a man who seems to 
have equalled the ancient heroes of Rome or Sparta ; 
and the Caledonians felt the effects of so stern a disci- 
plinarian. They met with terrible reverses : and peace 
was restored to Britain. But Ulpius Marcellus was 
speedily recalled from his government; for his extra- 
ordinary personal merits rendered him an object of 
alarm and suspicion to Commodus ; and after running 
a narrow risk of losing his head in return for his 
public services, he with much difficulty escaped into 
private life ^ 

After the recal of Marcellus, a serious sedition broke 
out in Britain, in consequence of the iniquitous manner 
in which appointments were made to offices of trust in 
the army, and perhaps also from the relaxation of dis- 
cipline which ensued on the removal of theii' general. 
Perennis, the corrupt and abandoned favourite of 
Commodus, had so much influence with the emperor, 
that he was able to do what he liked in nearly all the 
departments of the state. He offended the soldiers in 
Britain, by displacing the men of senatorial rank from 
the commands which they had always held, and placing 
in their room youngei- men taken from the equestrian 
rank ^. The soldiers naturally Ic oked to the minister 
of state as the cause of their grievances, and were 
violently enraged against Perennis. To obtain redress 
for their injuries, they chose out fifteen hundred men, 
and sent them to lay their petition at the foot of the 
throne, and to ask for relief. This formidable deputa- 
tion succeeded in the object of their mission; no one 
was disposed to molest them, for their appearance and 

' Xipliiliiins, Ixxii. 8. "^ l.ampridius in V. Comniodi, c. (!. 



208 HISTOIIY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

pretensions were peaceable, and the emperor was not 
a favourite with his subjects. The soldiers amved at 
the gates of Rome without molestation, and Commodus 
went out to meet them. " Of all petitions, those of a 
military class are most likely to be heard by a tyrant. 
The complaints against Perennis, although probably 
much exaggerated, proved fatal to the minister. He 
was delivered over to his accusers, who first scourged, 
and then beheaded him," in the year of our Lord 186''. 
This concession of the emperor did not, however, 
entirely allay the sedition in Britain : the soldiers con- 
tinued in a mutinous state, and the emperor's authority 
in the island seemed likely to be set aside altogether. 
In this critical state of afiairs, Publius Helvius Pertinax, 
who afterwards succeeded Commodus on the throne, 
was appointed to take the command, and restore tran- 
quillity to the province '. Pertinax was a man of merit, 
for no one without great talents has ever forced his 
way from a private station to a throne; he was of 
humble origin, but had been well brought up; and 
though remarkable for a mild and merciful disposition, 
he possessed great military abilities, and well main- 
tained his authority over those whom he commanded. 
In allaying the seditious spirits of the army in Britain, 
Pertinax was eminently successful, though he had 
peculiar difficulties to encounter, from the effects of 
which he did not get off unscathed. The disaffected 
troops were prepared to disclaim the authority of Com- 
modus, and invited Pertinax himself to become their 
emperor. But the general was too prudent to under- 
take this dangerous honour: he is said to have incurred 
odium for having warned Commodus against two other 

" Xii^hilinus, Ixxii. 9. Thackeray, vol. i. p. 163. ' Jul. Capit. 
Pertin. 2. 



A.D. 190.] ALBINUS GOV. OF BRITAIN. 209 

persons, Aiitistius Burrus, and x^rrius Antoninus, as not 
unlikely to entertain views hostile to the reigning prince. 
This charge, however, was never j>rove(l ; and it is not 
of sufficient weight to counterbalance tlic real merits 
of Pertinax, who reduced the soldiers to obedience j 
thougli at imminent personal risk to himself. One of 
the legions broke out into open violence, and Pertinax, 
bravely opposing himself to their fury, was wounded so 
severely,^ that he was left for dead upon the field. 

This outrage, we are told, was never forgotten ; and 
the legion paid most dearly for it. It is not, however, 
to be wondered at, that so hazardous a position among 
disaffected soldiers was not pleasant to Pertinax: he 
petitioned the emperor to be released from the com- 
mand of soldiers, who were enraged against him per- 
sonally on account of the severe* discipline which he 
had inti'oduced. This petition was acceded to : Perti- 
nax was recalled, and, after discharging a civic office '' 
at Rome, he was made proconsul of Africa'. 

The next propraetor of Britain was Decimus Clodius 
Albinus, a man of high birth and pretensions, who was 
afterwards forced against his will into a contest with 
the great Severus, for the possession of the throne. 
His mode of administering the affairs of his govern- 
ment was honourable to himself and advantageous to 
his country. The soldiers, who were under liis com- 
mand, imbibed an extraordinary regard for his person, 

^ Ciira alimentorum. 

' Capitol. Pert. 3, 4. A <;iu'iuiis ciicuuislance is said to have 
happened at Rome, whilst Pertinax was in Britain. A horse, named 
Pertinax, gained the victory in the race-course; and this was after- 
wards quoted as an omen, that tho general named Pertinax- would be 
raised to the throne. Like most other i)rophecies, this prediction 
was never mentioned till afier its accomplishment. Xii-iin,. Ixxiii. -1. 
P 



210 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

which they afterwards evinced by the zeal with which 
they devoted their lives to his service, and almost 
secured for him the empire of the world. 

These services procured for Albinus the title of 
Caesar", which Commodus, who had himself been 
saluted by the British army with the appellation of 
Britannicus ", seems to have conferred without reluc- 
tance. But the favour of the emperor was capricious, 
and a circumstance soon occurred which threw Albinus 
under a cloud at the Roman Court. A rumour was 
spread that Commodus was no more, and Albinus, 
perhaps somewhat hastily, and at all events prema- 
turely, assembled his soldiers, and addressed them on 
the event which was supposed to have happened. In 
his speech, which has been rather obscurely recorded, 
he seems to have made too free with the imperial 
authority. " When Ceesar," said he, " subdued Britain, 
he was a senator, but not yet dictator." These words 
were reported to Commodus, who at once issued orders 
for the recal of Albinus, and the appointment of one 
of his own companions Junius Severus, to succeed him 
in the government". This decree, however, was set 
aside by the unexpected death of tlie emperor, whose 
crimes at length drew down upon him the punishment 
which they had so long merited. 

The reign of this monster, marked by almost every 
act of vice and tyranny to which a servile people would 
submit, furnishes at least one subject of interest to the 
English reader, which we may here pause to consider. 
It is in the reign of this emperor, we are informed, that 
the Christian religion was first established in our island. 
From the examination already instituted in a preced- 

"> Capitol. Alb. 13, 14. ° Lampridius, Coiiimod. 8. 

° Capitol. Albiii. 13, 14. 



A. D. 19*2,] KING LUCIUS. '2\l 

ing chapter, the reader, who attaches due weight to 
accurate and specific testimony, will have come to the 
conclusion, that there is no proof of Britain having 
been converted until the point of the narrative which 
we have now reached. But whether the authority, on 
which the conversion of Britain is fixed in the reign of 
Commodus, is of sufficient weight to authorize its 
being regarded as an historical fact, is a question 
which must depend for its solution on a calm and dis- 
passionate enquiry into the evidence, and all the circum- 
stances with which it is surrounded. It is not surpris- 
ing, that nothing has been recorded on this subject by 
the historians of Greece and Rome; for Christianity, in 
the first two centuries, occupied a position much too 
obscure to attract the notice of the learned. It was 
a long time before the pagan world could disconnect 
Christianity from its parent Judaism, of which the 
Christians were supposed to be a sect; and that part 
of the religion, which forms in fact its principal feature, 
was peculiarly liable to misinterpretation in the judg- 
ment of heathen critics. Christ, the founder of Chris- 
tianity, and the Son of God, was pointed out to the 
world as of a divine nature, and a fit object for the 
worship of mankind. But this claim would naturally 
invite a comparison between Christ and the heathen 
deities ; and whilst the common people recognised both 
as true, the magistrate both equally useful, and the phi- 
losopher both false ; there was little to attract the notice 
of any party amid the political changes which in that 
age were so sudden, and so engrossing of the public 
attention. 

The first writer who mentions king Lucius is Ve- 
nerable 13ede, who, in the fourth cliapter of his first 
book of Ecclesiastical History, writes as follows: 
i'2 



212 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

" In the year of our Lord's incarnation 156, Marcus 
Antoninus Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, re- 
ceived the empire io conjunction with his brother 
Aurelius Commodus. In whose reign whilst Eleu- 
therus, a holy man, presided over the Holy Roman 
See, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent to him a letter, 
beseeching him to issue a mandate that he might be 
made a Christian: and afterwards he obtained the 
object of his pious petition, and the Britons preserved 
immaculate and sound, in peace and tranquillity, the 
faith wtiicli they had received, until the reign of the 
emperor Diocletian." 

This passage is open to much criticism, from the 
numerous inaccuracies which it contains. In the first 
place, the year 1.56 was the nineteenth year of Anto- 
ninus Pius, who reigned immediately before Marcus 
Aurelius and his son Commodus, and on the other 
hand, Eleutherus is supposed not to have been elected 
Bishop of Rome until the year 173 at the earliest. 
Thirdly, it is to be observed, that no such emperors as 
Marcus Antoninus Verus, and his brother Aurelius 
Commodus, ever reigned at all at Rome; but it is 
evident, that Venerable Bede has confused together 
the names of four succeeding emperors, Antoninus 
Pius, Marcus Aurelius, his adopted colleague Lucius 
Verus, and Commodus son of Aurelius, and, out of 
these four separate persons, has put together two new 
emperors, whose names no where occur in authentic 
Roman history. In this confusion we should have one 
clue to extricate us : the fact that Eleutherus was the 
pope, to whom, at the request of king Lucius, Britain 
owed its conversion to Christianity. As his pontificate 
lies between the thirteenth year of Aurelius, and the 
sixth of Commodus, we might be justified in setting 



A,D. 102.] KING LUCIUS. 213 

aside the errors of Venerable Bede, as of minor im- 
portance, and inferring that, as regards the main fact of 
the mission to Britain, the passage quoted from the 
ecclesiastical history may contain a basis of truth. 
But our attention is next due to Nennius, the native 
British historian, who lived about 100 years after 
Venerable Bede. He alludes to the story of king 
Lucius, in these words : 

" In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 164, Lucius, 
king of Britain, together with all the chieftains [regulis] 
of all Britain, received baptism, an embassy having been 
sent by the emperors of Rome, and by the Roman 
pope Evaristus. Lucius was surnamed Lever-maur, 
i. e. Great Luminary, on account of the Christian faith 
which was introduced in his time." 

This account is entirely at variance with the former. 
To suppose that any of the Roman emperors who 
reigned in the second century would be solicitous to 
convert the Britons to Christianity, is too preposterous 
to merit criticism : that either of the same emperors 
would cooperate either for good or bad with the obscure 
individuals'', who at that time called themselves Bishops 
of Rome, is a supposition scarcely less absurd than the 
former. 

A third objection to the account of Nennius is the 

p We have witnessed in our own times a singular burst of human 
weakness and delusion in the formation of the sect commonly called 
Irvingites. With pretensions to miraculous power not inferior to 
those of the first Christians, they united meekness of conduct and 
humbleness of life equally remarkable and striking. Their tenets 
still perhaps linger hi secluded situations, until Time, that great 
healer, shall have effaced from existence the ruflle which the breath 
of their doctrines has made upon the smooth surface of events. Who 
can believe, that kings or (piccns would cooperate with these wild but 
good men, to propagate truth in dislani countries! 



214 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

extraordinary anachronism by which he introduces 
Evaristus as living in the year 164, when it is matter 
of certainty, as far as any thing- can be certain about 
the early Bishops of Rome, that Evaristus died in the 
year 109, i. e. more than fifty years before the time 
assigned to the conversion of Britain. These extra- 
ordinary dilFerences between historians perplex the 
judgment, and make it difficult to discriminate between 
truth and falsehood. Notwithstanding these discre- 
pancies, however, many eminent modern scholars have 
come to the decision, that king Lucius is a real cha- 
racter, and that the account of his conversion to 
Christianity is substantially correct. But gi-eat sus- 
picion is cast over the whole story by the nefarious 
forgeries and pious frauds by which the monks of the 
middle ages have endeavoured to support a doubtful 
legend. Archbishop Usher says, that he saw two coins, 
one of silver, the other of gold, bearing the image of a 
king with a cross, and the letters l u c, an abbrevia- 
tion for Lucius, engraved upon them. But on examin- 
ation'', one of these coins turns out to be a manifest 
forgery, and the other, if it were known to be still in 
existence, would no doubt be open to the same charge : 
besides which, it is well known, that the money which 
passed in the Roman provinces was coined at the 
Roman mint, and never bore the head of the kinglets 
or tributary chieftains, that still retained authority over 
their petty dominions, in subjection to the Roman 
supremacy. Another question, which has been raised 

1 " One of these two coins attributed to Lucius, which is of gold, is 
preserved in the collection of the British Museum; and is a decidedly 
false one, as Mr, C. F. Barnwell informs me. Of the other, in 
silvei', nothing is known." Rev. J. P. Pantin's preface to Stillingfleet's 
Orig. Brit, note % p. xv. vol. i. ed. Oxon. 1842. 



A.D. 192.] KING LUCIUS. 215 

concerning king- Lucius, relates to the part of Britain 
over which he is supposed to have reigned. To this 
question, from want of information, it is impossible to 
return a specific answer ; but, as Prasutagus and Cogi- 
dunus are known to have retained a species of sove- 
reignty in the early ages of the Roman domination, 
there seems no reason for denying that king Lucius 
may have held the same subordinate position at the 
time of which we are now speaking'. Of the Welsh 

"■ The fabulous history of Geofiiey of Monmouth, m the account 
of king Lucius, amplifies, as usual, the meagre facts recorded by 
more authentic historians : the narrative, which is repugnant to the 
stale of things known to exist at that time in Britain, I'uns as follows: 
Book I. chap. xix. " Lucius is the first British king that embraces 
the Christian faith, together with his people. — Coillus had but one 
son, named Lucius, who, obtaining the crown after his father's decease, 
imitated all his acts of goodness, and seemed to his people to be no 
other than Coillus himself revived. As he had made so good a 
beginning, he was willing to make a better end : for which purpose 
he sent letters to Pope Eleutherius, desiring to be instructed by him 
in the Christian religion. For the miracles which Christ's disciples 
performed in several nations, wrought a conviction in his mind; so 
that being inflamed with an ardent love of the true faith, he obtained 
the accomplishment of his pious request. For that holy pope, upon 
receipt of this devout petition, sent to him two most religious doctors, 
Faganus and Duvanus, who, after ti}ey had preached concerning the 
incarnation of the Word of God, administered baptism to him, and 
made him a proselyte to the Christian faith. Immediately upon 
this, people from all countries, assembling together, followed tlio 
king's example, and being washed in the same holy laver, were made 
partakers of the kingdom of heaven. The holy doctors, after they 
had almost extinguished ])aganism over the whole island, dedicated 
the tem[)lcs, thai had been founded in honour of many gods, to the 
one only God and His saints, and filled them with congregations of 
Christians. There were then in P.ritaiu eight and iwciily fiamens, as 
also three archflamcns, to whose jurisdiction the other judges and 
enthusiasts were subject. These also, according to the apostolic 
connnand, they df.'li\f'ro(l from idolalrv, ;iu(l \vh(r(- ilicx wwr (lunicii^^ 



216 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIII. 

versions of this part of our history, found in their Triads 
and genealogies, it is useless to say much : they partake 
of the same mendacious love of fiction which has 
obscured rather than illustrated all the early annals of 
that people; and as they were composed many hundred 



made them bishops, where archflamens, arehWshops. The seats of 
the archflamens were at the three noblest cities, viz. London, York, 
and the City of Legions, which its old walls and buildings shew to 
have been situated upon the river Uske in Glamorganshire. To these 
three, now purified from superstition, were made subject twenty-eight 
bishops with their dioceses. To the metropolitan of York were sub- 
ject Deira and Albania, which the great river Humber divides from 
Loegi'ia. To the metropolitan of London were subject Loegria and 
Cornwall. These two provinces the Severn divides from Kambria or 
Wales, which was subject to the City of Legions. Chap. xx. Faganus 
and Duvanus give an account at Rome, of what they had done in 
Britain. — At last, when they had made an entire reformation here^ 
the two prelates returned to Rome, and desired the pope to confirm 
what they had done. As soon as they had obtained a confirmation, 
they returned again to Britaiin, accompanied with many others, by 
whose doctrine the British nation was in a short time strengthened in 
the faith. Their names and acts are recorded in a book which Gildas 
wrote concerning the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius; and what is 
delivered in so bright a treatise, needs not to be repeated here in a 
meaner style. — Book v. chap. L Lucius dies without issue, and is a 
benefactor to the Churches. In the mean lime, the glorious king 
Lucius, highly rejoiced at the great progress which the true faith and 
worship had made in his kingdom, and permitted the possessions and 
territories which formerly belonged to the temples of the gods to be 
converted to a better use, and appropriated to Christian churches. 
And because a greater honour was due to them than to the others, 
he made large additions of lands and manor-houses, and all kinds of 
privileges to them. Amidst these and other acts of his great piety, 
he departed this life in the city of Gloucester, and was honourably 
buried in the Cathedral church, in the hundred and fifty-sixth year 
after our Lord's incarnation. He had no issue to succeed him, so 
that after his decease there arose a dissension among the Britons, ai;d 
the Roman power was much weakened." 



A.D. 192.] KING LUCIUS. 217 

years after the event, they are inadmissible into the 
pages of serious liistory. 

The speculations of some modern writers are not 
more reasonable than the fictions of the Triads: for 
whilst the latter represent Lucius as the fourth in 
descent from Caractacus, Sir Henry Spelman lias 
assigned him a similar place in genealogy from king 
Arviragus. So easy is it for painters to adorn the 
most vulgar skeleton, till it represents a countenance 
that may pass for the likeness of any of the less known 
characters found in the page of history ! 

" But the reader" — if I may be allowed to sum up 
this enquiry in the words of one' who has in some 
respects well discussed this subject — " will be glad to 
find a clue by which to extricate himself from this 
labyrinth of fables and absurdities, and be conducted to 
something like the safe and authorized path of history. 
Such a clue is, I think, afforded by a hint of Bishop 
Stillingfleet's. That author suggests, that Lucius may 
possibly have ruled over those territories which were 
once possessed by the Romanized Cogidunus, from 
whom he might probably have been descended. Of 
all the opinions that have been offered on the subject, 
this surely is the most reasonable. It appears ex- 
tremely probable, that, during the reigns of Marcus 
Aurelius Antoninus and Commodus, a native Briton, 
named Lucius, reigned, by the permission of the 
Romans, over the country of the Regni, now known as 
Surrey and vSussex ; and also over that of the Uobuni, 
which comprised the modern counties of Oxfordshire 
and Gloucestershire; that hearing much of the Ohris- 
tian religion, as observed in many parts of Britain, and 
particularly brought to his notice by the accounts of 

" Tluickcray, vol. i. p. 1 \'2. 



218 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CIJ. XIII. 

the sufferings of the Christians of Vienna, and Lyons, 
and of some remai'kable conversions at Rome, Lucius 
was anxious to obtain for himself and his people, the 
advantage of being fully instructed in this religion: 
that, for this purpose, he dispatched two British Chris- 
tians, Medwy and Elvan, or Elfan, to Eleutherius, 
Bishop of Rome; not because he regarded that Bishop 
as the supreme head of the Christian community, but 
simply because he himself, being tributary to the 
Romans, naturally looked up to Rome as the centre of 
information upon every question of importance; that 
Eleutherius, in compliance with the request of Lucius, 
sent back, with Elvan and Medwy, two ecclesiastics, to 
whom tradition has assigned the names of Faganus 
and Duvianus; who, coming into Britain, baptized 
king Lucius and many of his subjects, and thus 
enlarged and more fully confirmed that Christian faith, 
which had been introduced into different parts of the 
island for upwards of 100 years." But all which 
took place at this time falls far short of an universal 
establishment of the Christian religion in Britain. 
King Lucius and the principal part of the inhabitants 
of the south, may have conformed to Christian prac- 
tices in token of their recognition of the Christian 
faith, but more than a century after this date we find 
paganism still in existence, over a very large portion 
of our island. 



CHAP. XIV. 



THE REIGNS OF PERTINAX, DIDIUS JULIANUS, AND SEVERUS — ALBINUS, 
GOVERNOR OF BRITAIN — CONTEST BETWEEN SEVERUS ALBINUS AND 
NIGER — BATTLE OF LYONS — VIRIUS LUPUS, GOVERNOR OF BRITAIN — 
SEVERUS ARRIVES IN BRITAIN IN 208— HIS INVASION OF CALEDONIA 
IN 209 — BUILDS THP WALL ACROSS THE ISLAND IN 210 — DIES AT 
YORK IN 211. 



The year 193 witnessed the successive rise and fail 
of three Roman emperors. The assassination of Com- 
modus was followed by the elevation of Pertinax to the 
throne, which in three months was again vacant by his 
murder. The Preetorian soldiers, like the Janissaries 
of modern Turkey, had reached the highest pitch of 
insolence. They struck off the head of Pertinax in 
a moment of effervescence, and set the empire to sale 
by public auction. The highest bidder was Didius 
Julianus, a helpless and unworthy merchant, whose 
only merit was his wealth. But the reproach of this 
purchase stung to the heart of many a blunt Roman 
soldier. Three principal competitors arose, Severus, 
who commanded the Pannonian legions ; Pescennius 
Niger in Syria; and Clodius Albinus in Britain": the 
first of these proclaimed his resolution to vindicate the 
offended majesty of Rome, and to avenge tlie death 
of Pertinax on the abandoned Praetorians, and the 
helpless individual whom they liad raised to the 
throne. 

' Xil.llil. Iwiii I 1, |:-). 



220 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

But Severus was too ambitious a man to have no 
other views than to vindicate the dignity of Rome : he 
was also too prudent and sharp-sighted to overlook the 
probable turn which things would take. It was evident, 
that, as soon as Didius Julianus should be got rid of, 
a contest for empire must arise between himself and 
his two competitors, Albious and Niger. The former of 
these was a great favourite with those whom he governed, 
and was a man of talents and honour. The province, 
moreover, which he governed, was not more than a 
journey of three or four weeks from Romej and if 
Severus should pass into the distant east to contend 
with Niger in the plains of Asia, he might find on his 
return to Italy ^ that Albinus had secured the capital 
for himself. On the other hand, the governor of Syria 
was no despicable rival : he was as much beloved by 
the soldiers of the East, as Albinus by those of 
Britain : his virtues were calculated to shine equally 
in civil as in military affairs, and his ability to com- 
mand developed itself without that haughtiness and 
rigid affectation of authority, v/hich have made so 
many generals objects of abliorrence to their men. 
Severus, the rival of Albinus and Niger, was their 
contrast in almost every particular: he was equal to 
them in the command of an army, but ruthlessly severe 
in maintaining his authority; and whilst his rivals, from 
the humanity of their characters, might be deterred 
from an advantage by the ill which ensued to others, 
Severus never hesitated at the most atrocious acts of 
cruelly, treachery, or oppression, which would put him 
in possession of the object which he was pursuing. 
Immediately on his hearing of the events which had 
passed at Rome, he marched with extraordinary ra- 

'' Herodiaii ii. 48, 49. 



A.D. 193.] SEVERUS. 221 

pidity to the capital, where the ignoble Julian and the 
licentious Praetorians awaited his arrival; the one con- 
scious of his inability to command, the other enervated 
by licentiousness, and utterly unable to cope with the 
army of the north. The usurper was dragged from 
his palace, and speedily assassinated : the Praetorians 
were degraded from their privileges, and Severus 
without delay was raised with acclamations to the 
throne. 

In the mean time, however, being- a prudent and 
discreet man, he was suspicious of the course wliich 
the troops in Britain might take, as they were very 
numerous, and composed of the choicest of the Roman 
soldiers. Of Albinus, their leader, on account of 
his high ancestry, and the opulence and splendor of 
his family, Severus justly entertained alarm. He 
determined therefore to conciliate him, by artifice, 
to his own interests, lest, having such high pretensions 
to imperial power, and trusting to his wealth and noble 
descent, supported moreover by so strong an army, 
and connected by intimacy with all the best families in 
Rome, he might suddenly prove a formidable rival 
claimant for the empire. To effect the object which 
he had in view, Severus addressed a letter to Albinus, 
conferring upon him the title of Cicsar, and inviting 
him to become his associate in the government of the 
empire : he further entreated him to give his whole 
and undivided attention to the caves of his province ; 
observing, that the state had need of the services of so 
noble a personage still in the vigour of life, whereas 
himself was old, and suflering under a rheumatic 
affection, which often disabled him from active service : 
his children moreover were young, and could give no 
assistance to their father in the arduous concerns of 



222 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

government. These representations produced the 
desh'ed effect upon Albinus " ; he trusted implicitly in 
Severus, who in his letters made the most solemn 
protestations of his sincerity and good faith. 

These, however, were not the only artifices which 
Severus used to allure Albinus to tranquillity : he 
referred the whole matter to the senate, and invited 
them to confirm the honours which had been bestowed 
on the governor of Britain : he next ordered money to 
be coined bearing his image, and ratified all this by 
the erection of statues in his name. These testimonies 
of amity were readily accepted : Albinus, glad to receive 
without contest, and with no risk, the object of his 
ambition, remained in his insular province, and left 
Severus and Niger to decide the struggle for empire 
which awaited them '\ 

This struggle, however, was speedily decided, though 
Severus found it a difficult and protracted task to re- 
duce to obedience the wide provinces which had taken 
part against him. Niger was defeated in a great battle 
near Issus, and was slain in his flight from the field of 
action : but the nations and cities of the east offered 
a determined resistance, and Byzantium, an important 
city, though not yet raised to be the capital of the east, 



" Herodian [Hist. ii. 49.] describes Albinus as a man naturally 
vain-glorious and vain : but his conduct in the present instance is 
not incompatible with honesty, moderation, and good feeling. 

Aurelius Victor [De Cees. 20.] says, that Albinus was the author 
of the death of Pertinax, and that, in alarm for the consequences of 
that deed, he set out to cross over into Britain, and when he was in 
Gaul, assumed the imperial purple. Orosius confirms this statement, 
adding, that Albinus was the associate of Didius Julianus in slaying 
Pertinax. 

^ Xiphilin. Ixxiii. 15. Herod, ii. 49. 



A.D. 196.] SEVERUS — ALBINUS IN BRITAIN. 223 

held out tliree years before it submitted to the arms of 
the conqueror. At length, all opposition having ceased, 
Severus returned to Rome in the year 196, not liow- 
ever to enjoy tranquillity, for before the end of that 
year, either by his jealousy of a rival, or by the im- 
prudence of Albinus, war became inevitable between 
them. The power of the governor of Britain had 
always been an object of suspicion, and now that the 
third competitor was removed, Severus looked upon 
Albinus as an obnoxious and formidable rival. " More- 
over," says Herodian'', " he heard that Albinus was 
exulting too imperially in the title of Ciesar, and that 
many, more especially of the principal senators, were 
severally and secretly sending letters, urging him to 
come to Rome, while Severus was absent and oc- 
cupied." With this, in part, agrees the account of 
Dion Cassius, or his abbreviator Xiphilinus, but it 
assigns to Severus the first departure from justice, and 
the first provocation to hostility. " He no longer 
paid to Albinus the honours which were due lo him 
as Caesar, for he had now got rid of Niger, and put 
matters every where into as favourable a position as 
he wished : but Albinus was ambitious of possessing 
the empire, and thus from these causes the world was 
again thrown into confusion '^." That the conduct 
of Severus evinced deceit and treachery of the deepest 
dye, and that Albinus was forced, whether against his 
will or not, to the decision of their quarrel by the 
sword, appears too plainly irom the sequel. " Severus 
endeavoured to avoid an open rupture with his as- 
sociate, and feared to enter rashly into a contest, for 
which he could find no plea ; but he chose rather, if 
it were possible, to remove his enemy secretly and by 
■•■ Hist. iii. IG. ' Dion. Cass. Ixw. 4. 



224 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

treachery. For this purpose, he ordered the attendance 
of some of the confidential ministers who were accus- 
tomed to convey the mandates of the emperor. To 
them he entrusted letters for Albinus with a secret 
message, and he ordered them, as soon as they should 
be introduced, to deliver the letters, and to request 
a private audience, that they might communicate to 
him the secret commands of Severus. If this should 
be granted, they were to fall on Albinus, when he was 
separated from his guards, and slay him with their 
daggers. Still further, to ensure his purpose, he 
furnished the emissaries with poisonous drugs, which 
they were to persuade the cooks of Albinus to mix 
with his food, or those who waited at table to ad- 
minister in the wine which they handed to their 
master. But Albinus was surrounded by faithful 
friends, who suspected that his lifie was aimed at, and 
advised him to take precautions against the deceitful 
emperor. They urged that caution could not be 
unnecessary against a man who had practised such 
baseness towards the officers of Niger : for he had per- 
suaded them, by holding their children as hostages, to 
desert the cause of Niger, and when he had established 
every thing as he wished, he put to death both the 
officers and their children. Such deeds as this shewed 
the native character of the man ; and Albinus, follow- 
ing the advice which was given, increased the number 
of his guards, and suffered no messenger from Severus 
to enter his presence until he had laid aside his 
military sword, and it was ascertained by examination 
that he bore no other weapon concealed about his 
person. 

When therefore the emissaries of Severus ap- 
proached, they delivered their letter, and requested 



A. D. 197.] MARCH OF SEVERUS. 225 

a private audience, that they might dehvcr to Albinus 
alone the secret instructions of Severus. This request 
excited suspicion ; the messengers were arrested, and, 
being interrogated in private, revealed to Albinus all 
the plot against his life. He ordered the treacherous 
men to receive the punishment which was their due, 
and immediately declared war against Severus as an 
open enemy. 

When intelligence of these proceedings was brought 
to Rome, Severus, who acted by fits of passion, to 
which he was always liable by nature, no longer con- 
cealed his enmity, but made preparations to meet 
Albinus in the field ^." When these were complete, 
he set out towards Gaul, and in the course of his 
journey evinced that indomitable resolution of cha- 
racter, which in all his undertakings more than half 
contributed to his success. Nothing stopped his 
march for an instant: the fetes and festivals of the 
districts and cities through which he passed were 
unheeded : neither fatigue, nor the extremities of cold 
or heat, arrested the progress of his troops ; and their 
commander was constantly seen on the highest sum- 
mits of the mountains over which his army passed, 
with his bare head exposed to the snow and sleet of 
winter, and urging on his army by the influence of his 
own example. 

Whilst Severus was thus bringing up his army by 
rapid marches towards collision with the enemy, he 
neglected no measures which might be wanting tc 
secure his success. " A formidable body of troops 
was sent to occupy the narrow passes of the Alps, and 
to guard the approaches to Italy. When Albinus, who 
was now grown indolent ancf luxurious, was informed 

« Ilorod. iii. D. 

^ 



226 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

that Severos made no delay, but was already advancing, 
it threw him into great consternation. Crossing over, 
therefore, from Britain to the opposite coast of Gaul, 
he there pitched Ills camp. He then sent to all the 
surrounding districts, and commanded their rulers to 
supply the army with money and provisions. Some 
obeyed his commands, and furnished them to their 
own destruction, for they were afterwards punished by 
Severus for this act; but such as disregarded them, 
determining luckily rather than advisedly, escaped : 
for the issue and fortune of the war decided on the 
judgment of each in this respect. 

When, therefore, the army of Severus had arrived 
in Gaul, there was some skirmishing in different 
places; but the decisive battle was near Lyons, a 
great and opulent city, in which, having shut himself 
up, Albinus remained, but sent forth his forces to the 
fight. A severe conflict ensuing, the fate of victory 
on either side for a long time continued dubious ; for 
the Britons yielded nothing either in courage or sangui- 
nary spirit to the Illyrians. Such noble armies, there- 
fore, encountering, the overthrov,^ of neither was easy : 
and according to some of the historians of that time, 
who write ftjr truth's sake and not for favour, that 
division of Albinus's army to which. Severus with his 
army was opposed, had greatly the advantage ; inso- 
much that he was put to flight, fell from his horse, and 
threw off his imperial robe to conceal himself. 

The Britons now pursuing, and shouting as though 
already victorious, they say that Leetus, one of Severus's 
commanders, came in sight with the army he com- 
manded fresh and untouched, from not having yet 
been in action. 

A charse has been brouaht against Lsetus, that he 



A.D. 197.] BATTLE OF LYONS. i>'>7 

watched the event of tlie battle, and came up slowly 
with his men that he might bring them fresh into the 
field ; and that when at last he shewed himself, after 
the report of the death of Severus, it was that he 
might himself be made emperor. This charge against 
Laetus received confirmation from the sequel. For at 
a later period, when 8everus had succeeded in every 
thing, and had no longer any enemy to alarm him, he 
bestowed great rewards on all his other generals, but 
put Lsetus to death, in punishment, as is most likely, 
for his former treachery. All this, however, happened 
afterwards. But at this time, as was said before, Lcetus 
coming in sight with fresh forces, Severus's party took 
courage, placed him on his horse, and again clad him 
in his imperial robe. Albinus's troops supposing 
themselves already victorious, and, in consequence, 
having their ranks somewhat disordered, when this 
fresh army fell suddenly upon them, gave way after 
little resistance. A desperate rout ensuing, the sol- 
diers of Severus pursued and slew them until they 
threw themselves into the city. The number of the 
slain and captive on either side is differently recorded, 
as the inclination of the several historians of those 
times dictated ''." 

*" This account of the battle pf Lyons is from Heiodian. Xiphi- 
linus, copying from Dion, gives us a more detailed and rather 
different description. That the reader may be able to compare 
both, and harmonize them in the best way he can for himself, I here 
subjoin the narrative of Xiphilinus : 

"■ The contest between Severus and Albinus was decided at Lyons 
in the following manner. Each commander led a hundred and fifi)-^ 
thousand men into the field and the battle presented many vicis- 
situdes and changes of fortune. The left wing of the army of 
Albinus was defeated, and fled to their entrenchments: the soldiers 
of Severus pursued so hotly, fliat the}' entered the camp with tliem, 
Q 2 



228 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XITI. 

The army of Sevenis, thus victorious, plundered 
and burnt the city of Lyons, and having cut off the 



and began to plunder their tents. In the mean thne^ the soldiers of 
Albinus's right wing, who had dug in front of them deep pitfalls, 
which they had lightly covered and concealed from the view of the 
enemy, advanced as near as they could to the soldiers of Severus, 
and there halting, harassed them much by their arrows. They did 
not however advance further, and at last retreated with the view to 
entice the enemy to pursue. The stratagem succeeded : the soldiers 
of Severus, indignant at the annoyance irom troops so near to them, 
and in contempt at their sudden retreat, charged against them with- 
out being aware of the insecurity of the ground. The consequence 
was, that they fell into the pitfalls, and suifered a dreadful loss; for 
the second lines fell upon the first, and the third upon the second, 
those behind urging on those before, until they all became involved 
in a general calamity. Those in the rear, seeing what had happened 
to those who were in front, retreated in terror, and all together were 
wedged into a deep ravine. A terrible slaughter was made of those 
who had fallen into the pits ; and those who remained on the field, 
between the ravine and the pits, were shot down in numbers by the 
enemy's missiles. Severus, seeing this, marched with his guards to 
assist his men; but was so far from assisting them, that he very 
nearly involved his guards in the same misfortune, and was himself 
unhorsed and in most imminent danger. Seeing all his men taking 
to flight, he tore his robe, and, drawing his sword, rushed into the 
thickest of his men, that he might induce them by shame to rally, or 
at least perish with them. Some of his men, seeing the bravery of 
their general, halted, and returned to the engagement. At this 
moment their pursuers received a sudden check from a new army 
that just entered the field; several of Severus's men were cut down 
in mistake for soldiers of Albinus, and the troops of the latter were 
at once driven from the field. At the same time they were assailed 
on the flanks by the cavalry of Lcetus, who had just come up, and 
a total rout ensued. For Leetus temporized, as long as the battle 
raged equally for both sides, waiting for the rival generals to be 
killed, that his own troops, who were fresh, might secure the fruits of 
the victory for himself. When, however, he saw that the troops of 
Severus began to prevail, he at once took part in the action. 
Thus Severus gained the victory." Dion. Ixxv. 21. 



A. D. 197.] VIRIUS LUrUS, GOV. OF BRITAIN. 229 

head of Albinus curried it as a present to their 
general, who sent it to Rome to be exposed on a 
stake to the public view. This battle, which conlerred 
on kSeverus the undisputed possession of the empire, 
was fought on the 19th of February, A. D. 197, four 
years after the league of amity which was made 
between the rival leaders. When the hostile army 
was annihilated, with no hopes of being again as- 
sembled, Severus turned his attention to the settle- 
ment of those countrit^s whicli had been under the 
government of Albinus. In Gaul he sought out all 
those who had acted against him in the late contest, 
and without remorse or hesitation put them to the 
sword. He next endeavoured to rearrange the Ro- 
man province in Britain, which, left to itself by the 
departure of Albinus, was not unlikely to become 
a scene of war and confusion. It was probably at 
this time that he appointed Virius Lupus' to the 
command in Britain ; at all events it is certain that 
this general commanded the Roman troops in the 
island between the victory of Lyons and the year 208, 
when the presence of Severus himself was necessary to 
check the progress of the barbarians. When these 
subjects had received from Severus the attention which 
their importance merited, the successful emperor re- 
turned to Rome at the head of an immense army, 
gathered from diflerent nations, to display his triumph 
to the citizens, and, as we might suppose, to enjoy the 
despotic power which was its fruit. But, before the 
expiration of the year, we find Severus in the east, 

' According to Dion, [Ixxv. (>.] Lu])us was at the head of a 
separate body of \yoo\)h in die interest of .Sovcrus, and had SHU'ered 
a severe defeat from Albinus before the bailie of Lyons. 



230 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BKITONS. [CH. XIV. 

where he continued till the year 202 ; for his energy 
of character would not let him remain idle, and his 
love of war found material for action in the warlike 
and roving tribes which lay beyond the plains of 
Armenia, and never were subject to the Roman arms. 

Meanwhile Virius Lupus, governor of Britain, met 
with difficulties from the northera tribes, which shew, 
that those invincible barbarians had gained upon their 
Roman invaders since they were repressed in the 
reign of Antoninus. 

It is interesting to mark the permanence of the 
features which nature has impressed on the Highland 
inhabitants of Scotland, and the description which 
Dion Cassius has left us of these tribes in the reign 
of Severus, almost carries us back to the times of 
Agricola, when the same appearance was presented to 
the invaders, the same bravery in defending their 
country, and the same tenacity of personal liberty, even 
when their native land was overrun and occupied by 
the legions of the enemy. 

" The two greatest tribes," says Dion, " among the 
Britons are the Caledonians and the Mseatce, for even the 
names of all the other tribes have in a manner merged 
in these two. The Mseatse dwell close to the wall which 
divides the island into two parts, and the Caledonians 
live beyond them. Each of these people inhabit wild 
mountains, where there is no water, and desert plains 
and marshes, where they live without walls or cities ; 
neither do they practise husbandry, but live by pas- 
turage, or the chase, and berries which grow in the 
woods ; for they never taste fish, although their lakes 
and rivers furnish an almost inexhaustible supply. They 
live in tents, naked and barefooted, having their wives 



A.D. 202 — 208.] THE CALEDONIANS. 231 

in common, and they rear all the children which are 
born to thetn ^. The government of these tribes is 
democratical, and they delight above all things in 
pillage : they fight from chariots, which are drawn by 
small swift horses; they fight also on foot, run with 
great speed, and are most resolute when compelled to 
stand : their arms consist of a shield and a short 
spear, which has a brazen knob at the extremity of 
the shaft, that when shaken it may terrify the enemy 
by its noise. They use daggers also, and are capable 
of enduring hunger, thirst, and hardships of every 
description; for they will plunge into the marshes, 
and remain there several days, with only their heads 
above the water. When they are in the woods, they 
subsist on bark and roots : they prepare for all 
emergencies a certain kind of food, of which if they 
eat only so much as the size of a bean, they neither 
hunger nor thirst. Such is the island of Britain, and 
such the inhabitants of that part of it, which is hostile 
to us ; for it is an island, and so, as I have said ', at 
that time it was clearly ascertained to be : its length is 
seven thousand one hundred and thirty-two furlongs: 
its greatest breadth two thousand three hundred and 
ten, its least breadth is three hundred. Of this island 
very little more than one half is ours ™." 

These were the tribes which, taking advantage of 
the convulsions in the Roman state, invaded the pro- 

'' This was not the case with some of the nations of antiquity, 
among whom infanticide was allowed within certain limits. It is 
said, that the Chinese still ocaasionally practise the same expedient 
to check the increase of population. 

' " At length, first in the time of the proconsul Agrippa, and now 
\mder the emperor Sevcrus, it has been clearly proved to be an 
island." Dion. Cass, xxxix. 60. 
Xiphilin. Ixxvi. 12—16. 



232 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV, 

vince, and seemed in a fair way to expel their hated 
invaders from the whole island. It is stated by Richard 
of Cirencester ", that about this time the Picts, a tribe 
which will hereafter occur repeatedly to notice, first 
landed in Scotland, under their king Reuda. This 
writer, living in the fourteenth century, professes to 
have derived his information from an ancient Roman 
writing, which since Richard's time has probably 
perished. It is therefore impossible to ascertain how 
far credit may be placed in the accounts of a writer 
who lived so long after the events which he relates, 
but the fact of the extraordinary successes which the 
Caledonians gained at this time, seems to confirm the 
supposition, that they received considerable reinforce- 
ments from abroad. The same writer tells us, that 
the wall built to protect the province was completely 
destroyed, and that the whole district, called Ves- 
pasiana, lying between the wall of Hadrian and that 
of Antoninus, was wrested from the Roman possession. 
To repel these invaders, the troops of Virius Lupus 
were not sufficiently numerous, or the military genius 
of their general was unequal to the emergency. He 
appears indeed to have possessed more ability to adorn 
the province with works of art in peace than to defend 
it in war. " The following inscription, which our 
antiquarians have preserved, relates to the restoration 
of the town OHcana, now Ilkley, in Yorkshire : 

IM. SEVERVS 

AVG. ET ANTONINVS 

CAES. DESTINATVS 

RESTITVERVNT. CVRAN- 

TE VIRIO LVPO LEG. E- 

ORVM. PR. PR". 

" 8ee Hislorical Documents concerning ihe Aucienl Britons, p. 415, 
" Gough's Camden's Britannia, vol. iii, p. 7. 



A.D. 202 208.] IXSCIUPTIONS OF VIRIUS LUPUS. 233 

The emperor Sererus 
Augustus and Antoninus [i. e. Caraculla] 
Cccsar elect 
Restored [this town] by the agency 
of Virius Lupus their lieu- 
tenant and proprcetor. 

" xA.nottier inscription has been found in Riciimond- 
shire, relative to a Bath-house, restored by the same 
Virius Lupus, for the use of the first Thracian cohort, 
then quartered at Levatrae : 

DEAE FORTVNAE 

VIRIVS LVPVS 

LEG. AVG. PR. PR. 

BALINEVM VI 

IGNIS EXVST 

VM. COH. I. TIIR- 

ACVM REST- 

ITVIT. CVRANTE 

VAL. FRON- 

TONE PRAEF .... 

EQ. ALAE VETTC. 

To the Goddess Fortune 
Virius Lupus 
lieutenant of Augustus and proprwtor 
this hat] I by 
force of fire consu- 
med for the first cohort of the Thrn- 
cians restor- 
ed, hy the agency of 
Val. Fr on- 
to prefect 
(f the troop of cavalry . . . 

f Quoted l)v i'lKKki'iay, vol. i. p. 170. Soo Cough '.s Camclcii, 
lol. iii. |), 20. 



234 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

But architecture did not alone engross the attention 
of Virius Lupus. His name occurs in the Fragments of 
Ulpian, quoted in the Digest "i, where he is represented 
as receiving from Severus a rescript concerning wills 
made in favour of a son, and the laws of inheritance. 

These occupations, creditable to the governor in 
time of peace, were little calculated to repel the fierce 
nations of Caledonia. It appears, by an expression of 
the historian Xiphilinus "■, that the tribe of the Mseatae 
had entered into certain engagements with the Roman 
governor, but that they were encouraged to break their 
compact by the promise of assistance from the Cale- 
donians. This alliance alarmed Virius Lupus, and, as 
Severus was engaged in a war nearer home, it was not 
likely that he could send any succours to Britain. 

In this strait, Virus Lupus was constrained to buy 
off with gold the enemy whom he could not repel by 
arms. A large sum of money was devoted to this 
purpose, and the barbarians retreated, not, however, to 
remain at peace, but to sally forth again at the end of two 
years with their appetites for plunder whetted, furnishing 
to their enemies, the Romans, their first lesson of caution 
against the principle of buying with money what must 
always in such emergencies be secured by the sword — ■ 
the liberty and independence of one's country. 

But now, the governor of Britain, unable to 
meet the attacks of the enemy which were made with 
greater fury than before, sent hasty letters to the 
emperor urging him to send a considerable reinforce- 
ment of soldiers, and if possible, to come himself to 
repel the barbarians. 

This invitation reached the emperor at a time when 
he would have been glad of any excuse to leave the 
1 Dig. xxviii. 6, 2. "• Hist. Ixxv. §. 5. 



A.D. 208.] SEVERUS SETS OUT FOR BRITAIN. 235 

capital: his sons, Caracalla and Geta, had adopted a 
most dissolute way of life, and mingled, without re- 
straint, in all the licentiousness of the games and 
public spectacles. It was the wish of Severus to 
remove tliem i'rora this vortex of corruption, and when 
the letters of Virius Lupus arrived, with the intelligence 
that the whole province was overrun by the barbarians, 
who carried off all they could get, and destroyed by 
fii'e what could not be removed, the emperor, now 
more than sixty years old, started at the summons, 
like an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet; for 
he was by nature fond of military glory, and after his 
victories in Gaul and the east, eagerly embraced an 
opportunity of earning fresh laurels in the distant isle 
of Britain. His advanced age did not deter him, nor 
wg,s he kept back by a painful disease which affected his 
limbs, and often deprived him of the power of walking, 
for his mind was as young and active as ever, and 
willing to draw away his sons from their bad habits 
which they had imbibed at Rome, and to give them a 
little experience of military campaigns, he set out at 
once at the head of his army ibr Britain. In this lono- 
journey, he displayed all his usual activity, and never 
stopped long in the same place, though the disease in 
his joints, which habitually afflicted him, was now so 
severe, that he was obliged to be carried in a litter. 
The rapidity of his march was so great, that he crossed 
the sea into Britain, in the latter part of the year 208, 
more quickly than can be described, or than could be 
expected; immediately on his arrival, he drew together 
the Roman armies from all sides, and, having con- 
centrated a vast force, marched at once to meet the 
enemy. 

The Britons, alarmed at the emperor's unexpected 



236 HISTORY OP THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

presence, and hearing that a large army was coming 
against them, sent ambassadors with terms of peace, 
and offered to give satisfaction for their previous 
offences. But Severus, unwilling to return- so soon to 
Rome, and give up his intention of obtaining a victory 
and title over the Britons, detained their ambassadors 
some time, and then dismissing them without an answer, 
made preparations for prosecuting the war. 

In the beginning of the next year, [A.D. 209,] he 
led his army into Caledonia, resolved never to halt 
until he should have reached its northern extremity, 
and reduced the whole island to submission. That 
the southern districts might not bo disturbed during 
his absence, he left his younger son, Geta, to manage 
the affairs of the government, and appointed the oldest 
and most experienced of his friends to form a council, 
and assist the young prince with their advice. The 
elder son Bassianus, also called Antoninus, and more 
commonly Caracalla, accompanied his father in the 
expedition against the Caledonians. When they had 
passed the fosses and mounds which protected the 
Roman province, they had almost daily skirmishes 
with the enemy, in all of which the Romans had the 
advantage, but they failed to bring them to a general 
engagement, nor did the Caledonians ever shew them- 
selves, except in small bodies ; and they soon made it 
evident, that they had no intention to risk then- cause 
in a single battle against an enemy so manifestly 
superior to them. They little heeded the minor 
defeats which their skirmishers daily experienced; for 
it was easy to make good their retreat through the 
woods and marshes, from the knowledge of the country, 
which gave them infinite advantages over those who 
attempted to pursue them. The climate also caused 



A.D. 209.] MANNER OF THE CALEDONIANS. 237 

mucli discomfort to the Romans, most of wliom liad 
never before been in so northerly a latitude. " The 
greatest part of Britain," says Herodian, " is exposed 
to inundations of the ocean, and becomes a marsh. 
The thick vapour, which these swamps exhale, cause 

the air of that coimtry to be thick and foggy The 

barbarians, by liabit, swim across the marshes without 
difficulty, or wade through tliem, wetting themselves 
up to their loins : for they are almost totally naked, 
and lake no care for the mud. They are unacquainted 
with the use of clothes, and adorn their necks and 
flanks with h*on rings, to which, as an ornament, they 
attach as much value as other nations do to gold. 
They puncture their bodies v/ith figures of all 
kinds of animals ; which is one reason why they 
have not adopted the use of clothing, that the figures 
may not be concealed. They are a warlike and cou- 
rageous race of men, and are armed with a small 
shield and spear, and a sword suspended from their 
naked bodies. They are unacquainted with the use of 
a breast-plate, or helmet, which they think would be 
an incumbrance in passing the marshes." 

To meet the peculiar circumstances of a war against 
this extraordinary people, Severus made every pre- 
paration that was likely to benefit the Romans and 
embarrass the enemy. Above all things, he en- 
deavoured to throw bridges over the marshy places, 
that his men, treading in safety, might more easily 
cross them, and fight with greater security, when they 
had a solid footing. IJe also cut down some of the 
thickest of the Ibrests, made roads through the mi un- 
tains, and filled up the marshes. In all these labours 
the army suffered incredible hardships, and frequently 
fell into ambuscades of the natives, who left sheep and 



238 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

oxen in the way of the soldiers, and cut off large 
numbers of them, whilst they were occupied in 
securing the booty. The rain also distressed them 
much; and whenever any of them lost their way and were 
separated from the rest, they were sure to be butchered 
by the natives. In this case, many of the Romans, 
who were unable to proceed, were put to death by 
their companions, that they might not fall into the 
hands of the barbarians. It is recorded by the con- 
temporary writers, that fifty thousand men perished in 
this campaign ; a large number in proportion to the 
extent of the country which they had invaded, and 
probably much greater than the losses of the Cale- 
donians themselves, who, having nothing to fear but 
the Roman swords, now felt the benefit of the plan 
which they had adopted, not to meet their enemy in a 
regular battle. 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, Severus continued 
to advance, until he reached the northern coasts of 
Britain. Here he noticed the parallax of the sun, 
the comparative length of the days and nights in 
summer and winter, and ascertained by ocular expe- 
perience, what seems still to have been a doubtful 
point with some, that Britain was an island. It will 
not diminish our admiration of this wonderful man to 
hear, that during a great part of this expedition he was 
carried in a covered litter, in consequence of the dis- 
ease in his limbs which so often afflicted him. Arrived 
on the furthest bounds of the island, he no longer 
disdained to open a treaty with the natives; for the 
progress which he had made was perhaps thought 
sufficient to vindicate the pretensions with which he 
had set out, whilst the losses which his army had 
suffered might teach even a general superior to Severus, 



A.D. 209.] caracalla's bad conduct. k39 

if such could be found, that discretion is the better 
part of valour. It is likely that the Caledonians were 
in no wise reluctant to be released from a war which 
had penetrated into the vitals of their country. But a 
domestic cause of affliction was continually preying on 
the happiness of Severus. His sons Caracalla and 
Geta were not only at variance with one another, but 
vied with each other in treating their father with 
disrespect. The old man, a victim to disease, which 
rendered his body a very unworthy receptacle for his 
fierce and energetic spirit, was frequently unable to 
move from his bed, or to discharge any of the duties 
of a commander. 

Impatient of the delay which this occasioned to the 
war, he tried to induce Caracalla to go and take the 
command of the troops. But Caracalla cared very 
little about the barbarians, and endeavoured only to 
gain the affections of the army, that when his father 
was dead he might reign alone, to the exclusion of his 
brother Geta, whose influence he tried, by all the 
means in his power, to weaken. His father's lingering 
so long gave him displeasure, and he did not hesitate 
to tamper with the physicians and servants, and urge 
them to use foul play in their attendance on the old 
man, so as to get rid of him sooner. But the servants 
of the emperor were too faithful to attempt the life of 
their master, or dreaded to be concerned in so horrible 
a parricide, and Caracalla was driven to adopt more 
open means to rid himself of his troublesome parent. 
Severus had caused the soles of his feet to be punc- 
tured, and thereby obtained so much relief from his 
complahit, that he was able to ride on horseback. 
The father and son had left the camp to receive a 
surrender of arms from the Caledonians, and to confer 



240 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

with them on the terms of a treaty. Caracalla was 
behind his father, and the army was in the rear: in 
front of them were the troops of the enemy. At this 
moment Caracalla determined to kill his father with 
his own hand, and checking his horse, drew his sword, 
that he might stab him in the back. But the soldiers, 
who were behind, seeing the movement, shouted out 
to Severus to beware, and Caracalla, startled at their 
cry, desisted from his purpose. The emperor also 
looked round, and saw the sword drawn, but without 
making any remark on the subject, proceeded to dis- 
charge the business which he had in hand. When 
this was completed, he retired to his tent, and sum- 
moning his son with Papinian the celebrated lawyer 
and CastoT, he commanded that a sword should be 
brought, and said these words to Caracalla: " If you 
wisli to kill me, do it here, not in the sight of the 
soldiers and the enemy. I am old and feeble; you 
are young and strong. But if you shudder at doing 
such a deed with your own hand, here stands Papi- 
ni?j|i, who will do all you command him, as if you were 
the emperor," The historian does not tell us what 
effect this produced upon Caracalla. The subject was 
dropped and never revived, but the anecdote confirms 
the character of the emperor, as given by Dion, that 
his affection for his children far exceeded and out- 
weighed his regard for the public good. 

This unpleasant state of things in his own family no 
doubt helped to make Severus wish for peace with the 
Caledonians, that he might give up to repose the short 
time which seemed to remain to him. A treaty was 
concluded between the parties, on condition that 
Severus should retire with his army, and the Cale- 
donians should give up a considerable district of their 



A. t). 209.] THE ROMANS MAKE PEACE. 241 

territory to the Romans. In consequence of this 
treaty, 8everus withdrew his troops into the Roman 
province, apparently in the winter of the same year 
[A.D. 209.] in which he had commenced the war. 

The care of defending the province against the 
Caledonians was not, however, the only occupation 
which engaged the attention of Severus during liis stay 
in Britain. Many inscriptions still remain, commemo- 
rative of his zeal in adorning the island with public 
buildings. The northern part of England was naturally 
his general place of residence, because it was nearer to 
the seat of war. York derived a great accession of 
dignity and importance from the preference shewn to 
it by this monarch, and became from this time the 
principal city of the north. But a more important 
work was already planned by Severus, and was executed 
within twelve months after it was first designed. The 
frontier of the Roman province had fluctuated from 
time to time, according to the ability of the govern- 
ment to defend it, between the walls of Hadrian and 
Antoninus. Every attempt, that had as yet been made 
to effect an entire and final conquest of the barbarians 
to the north, had failed, even at the moment when 
victory seemed complete. In a few years the enemy 
were again in force, and not unfrequently regained more 
than they had lost. The attempt to confine beyond a 
line of fortifications those whom it was found impossible 
to subdue, had not yet been fairly tried ; for the walls 
of Hadrian and Antoninus, constructed of banks of 
earth, were of a perishable nature, and iormed a weak 
barrier to resist the inroads of the enemy. The late 
expedition of Severus had taught him how formidabk^, 
were the tribes who dwelt beyond the Ivoman pak', and 
as he had no hope that liis hfe would bo protracted 
11 



242 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XlT. 

long enougJi for a second campaign, he provided for 
the security of his sons, who were to succeed him in the 
empire, by erecting a stupendous barrier of castles and 
forts, connected by a continuous wall of masonry, from 
one side of the island to the other. This wall, running 
nearly in the same line as that of Hadrian, extended 
from Segedunum, now called Cousin's House, near 
the mouth of the river Tyne, to Tunocelum or Bowness 
on the Solway Frith, a distance of sixty-eight English 
miles; " its height was twelve feet besides the parapet, 
and its breadth eight feet '. 

" Three different kinds of fortresses, which may be 
called stations, castles, and turrets, were erected along 
its line. Of these, the stations, although not all of the 
same figure or dimensions, were by far the most con- 
siderable in point of size and strength. They were 
designed for the head-quarters of the cohorts of troops 
which were placed there in garrison, and whence 

* Our knowledge of the situations of the different walls built by 
the Romans in this island is very imperfect. The account of the 
wall of Severus given above is taken from Thackeray, vol. i. 172. 
See Gordon's Itin. Septentrion. p. 83. Horsley's Brit. Romana, 

b. i. c. 8. pp. 121, 122. Bedee Hist. Ecc. lib. i. Henry's Hist, of 
Britain, b. i. App. No. ix. and Whitaker's Hist, of Manchester, b. i. 

c. 12. It is worthy of notice, that there is great discrepancy in the 
text of the original writers about the length of the wall of Severus. 
Sparlianus [Sev. 18.] gives no measurement: Eusebius [Chron. int. 
Hieron. lib. ii,^ has 132 miles: Aurel. Victor, [Epit. 40.] and 
Eutropius, [viii. 19,] give the length at 32 miles only: Orosius, 
[vii. 17.] Cassiodorus, [Chronic] Bede, [Chronic] and Nennius, 
[Hist. Brit. c. 19.] 132 miles. In this discrepancy of the original 
writers, it is curious that the moderns have adopted a measurement 
different from all the foregoing. We learn from Richard of Ciren- 
cester, that the wall of Severus was built on the same line as that of 
Hadrian. It is difficult to reconcile this with the interpolated passage 
of Nennius. [See Historical Documents, pp. 319 and 419.] 



A.D. 210.] THE WALL OF SEVERUS. 243 

detachments were sent to the adjoining castles and 
turrets. The stations were fortified on every side with 
deep ditches and strong walls; the main wall forming 
part of each building towards the north. Within the 
stations were accommodations for the officers and 
soldiers; the smallest of such stations being capable 
of containing 000 men, the complement of a cohort. 
Adjoining to each station was a town consisting of 
Roman and British labourers and artificers, partly 
slaves and partly freemen, who, with their families, 
were glad to avail themselves of such military pro- 
tection. The number of stations along the whole line 
of wall was eighteen. They were not, however, placed 
at equal distances from each other, the interval between 
them being regulated by the nature and exigencies of 
the spot. Thus, towards the centre of the wall, where 
attacks from the Mseatae and Caledonians were most 
to be apprehended, the stations were nearest to each 
other. Wherever such advantages could be obtained, 
the declivity of a hill, a south aspect, and the vicinity 
of a river, determined the situation. 

" The castles were eighty-one in number. These 
were greatly inferior, in point of size and strength, to 
the stations, in the intervals between which they were 
placed. They were squares of sixty-six feet, and were 
guarded by a competent number of soldiers detached 
from the main cohort. 

" The turrets were a great deal smaller than the 
castles, each forming a square of twelve feet, and 
standing out of the southern side of the main wall. 
They were placed between the castles, their whole 
number amounting to upwards of 300. The turrets 
were guarded by sentinels; who, upon the approach 
II 2 



544 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIV. 

of danger, were thus able to spread an alarm from one 
extremity of the wall to the other, 

" The ditcheSy roads*, and other military accommo- 
dations accompanying the wall were worthy of the 
Romans j whose soldiers, unlike those of modern 
times, rendered themselves as useful in peace as they 
were formidable in battle. The usual force allotted to 
the defence of this stupendous line of fortification 
amounted to ten thousand men." 

Such was the formidable barrier'' which was begun 
and completed by Severus in the year 210; but 
the barbarians, whom it was intended to confine be- 
yond this massive frontier, were already in arms 
before the wall was finished. The news of their revolt 
inflamed the emperor's fury, and he summoned his 
army with the intention of again invading their terri- 
tories. A war of extermination was determined on, 
and this sanguinary resolution was expressed in a 
passage of the poet Homer, 

Let none, said he, escape destruction dire. 
Nor of your hands elude the vengeful ire ; 
Let not the babe within his mother's womb. 
Babe though he be, avoid the mournful doom. 

The Caledonians and the Meeatse had again united 
their arms, and Severus expressed his intention of 

' The great defect in the Roman roads was, that they almost 
always crossed the rivers of the island, not by bridges, but by 
shallows or fords. 

" Spartianus tells us, that as Severus returned from an inspection 
of the wall, and was entering the nearest building, an ^Ethiopian 
approached him with a crown of cypress, and said to him, " You 
have been every thing, and have conquered every thing, now then be 
a God." See Spart. in v. Sev. 22. 



A.D. 211.] DEATH OF SEVERUS. 245 

leading his troops to chastise them. But be was 
again attacked by the disease in his feet, which dis- 
abled him from walking or riding, and the troops, 
mm'muring at his absence, saluted Caracalla with the 
title of Augustus. This roused the energies of the 
old emperor : he caused himself to be placed on the 
tribunal, and commanded that the new emperor Cara- 
calla, and all who had joined in that act of insub- 
ordination, whether tribunes, centurions, or private 
soldiers, should appear before him. " Soldiers !" 
said he, " it is not the feet, but the head which 
discharges the office of a general!" All were awed by 
the vigour of mind which the old man still displayed'', 
and orders were given to march against the enemy. 
But the constitution of Severus was now worn out, 
and it became evident that his end was approaching. 
The undutiful conduct of his son produced vexation of 
mind, which cooperated with the ravages of his disease. 
He died at York on the fourth of February, A.D. 211, 
after a reign of eighteen years, distinguished by more 
glorious triumphs, both over foreign enemies and 
domestic rivals, than any of his predecessors. By his 
will, the two Caesars, Caracalla and Geta, were to 
share the imperial power between them, and by their 
father's death they came into possession of enormous * 
wealth, such as no emperor had ever possessed before, 
and a noble army which no power in tlie known world 
could resist ''. 



' Anrel. Victor, do Cics. 20. 

'' The authorities for the rcigii of Severus are Herodiaii. ii. 48, 
49. iii. 16, 18, 20—24, 46—51. Dion. Cassius, xxix. 60. Sparlianus 
in V. Sever!, Eiiseb. Cliion. Aiir. Victor, de Ctcs. 20. and F']pit. 40, 
Eutrop. viii. 19. Oros vji. 17. ("assiud. Chron. Cod. .lust. iii. 32. 
Dig. xxxvi. 1. 46. Xiphiliu. cxccrit. Dion. l\xv. 5. Ixxvi. 10—16. 



CHAP. XV. 

REIGNS OF CARACALLA AND GETA — OSSIAN's POEMS, FINGAL, &C. — MA- 
CRINUS — ELAGABALUS — ALEXANDER SEVERUS, &C. — CARIN0S — DIO- 
CLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN — CARAUSIUS REVOLTS IN BRITAIN — IS 
MURDERED BY ALLECTUS— ALLECTUS IS SLAIN, AND BRITAIN RE- 
STORED TO THE EMPIRE BY CONSTANTIUS. 



In all couotries, poetry is the first species of compo- 
sition, the first means of handing down instruction or 
amusement to posterity. To account for this is a work 
of little difficulty. Among a people rude and ignorant 
of the liberal arts, any method of recording the warlike 
acts of their progenitors or their own, would be accept- 
able in proportion to its efficiency. Now, when the 
object to be attained was to preserve the events of 
ages, no memory would be found capable of storing up 
such a number and vicissitude of facts, as must occur 
in a considerable period of time, without first inventing 
some form of arranging its ideas, different from the 
ordinary run of conversation. It was soon discovered 
that poetry would have this eifectj that, if once a suc- 
cession of occurrences could be arranged in a series of 
measures, so that each phrase might occupy its own 
place alone in the system, half of the original difficulty 
would be moved. To this cause we attribute the cir- 
cumstance, that no history or prose composition of any 
kind existed before poetry had already arrived at a high 
degree of perfection. 



A.D. 211.] ossian's poems. 217 

li" we turn from this general principle, to consider 
the case of the ancient Caledonians, a people wlio have 
been more permanent than any other in Europe, and 
have retained, almost until our own times, the manners 
and costumes of the most remote antiquity, we might 
be prepared to expect that much traditionary lore 
would exist among them that might throw light upon 
their former history. Within the last 100 years have 
appeared several collections of ancient poems, said to 
have been written at a very remote period, and to have 
been preserved entire by oral recitation alone. That 
recitation may be the vehicle by which poems may be 
handed down during three or four hundred years, is a 
fact which the preservation of the poems of Homer, 
from the eleventh century before Christ to the eighth, 
when they were first reduced to writing, as it is said 
by Pistratus, Solon, or Lycurgus, may be considered 
to be sufficiently established. But when the Cale- 
donian poems before alluded to were first published, 
1500 years had elapsed since the period when they 
were said to have been composed. In so long a space 
of time, whole nations and languages have disappeared 
from the face of the earth, and it is difficult to conceive 
that unwritten verses could have lived through so many 
generations, without very great changes not only of 
phraseology, but even of the whole texture of their 
versification. It will probably have been already anti- 
dpated, that allusion is here made principally to the 
poems of Ossian, first published in an English transla- 
tion by James Macphcrson, about the middle of the 
last century. The author of these verses was said to 
have lived about the year A.D. 300, though thr 
earliest mention that is made of him occurs in the 
poems of Barbour, a writer of the fourteenth century. 



248 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

Amongst the poems of the collection is one, entitled 
COMALA, which, if genuine, in a remarkable manner 
refers to the events of the war which forms the subject 
of our last chapter. " The chase is over," said Der- 
sagrena, one of the damsels waiting for the return of 
Fingal, the Caledonian warrior : " No noise on Ardven 
but the torrent's roar, .... lay down the bow, and take 
the harp: let the night come on with songs, let our 
joy be great on Ardven." .... Again the same damsel 
speaks, " These are the signs of Fingal's death: the 
king of shields is fallen, and Caracul prevails. Rise, 
Comala% from thy rock ... the youth of thy love is 
low : his ghost is on our hills !".... 

CoMALA. " Confusion pursue thee over thy plains : 
ruin overtake thee, thou king of the world! Few be 
thy steps to the grave!" .... 

Melilcoma [sister to Dersagrena]. " What sound is 
that on Ardven? Who is that bright in the vale? 
Who comes like the strength of rivers, when their 
crowded waters glitter to the moon?". . . . 

CoMALA. '' Who is it but the foe of Comala, the 
son of the king of the world? Ghost of Fingal! do 
thou, from thy cloud, direct Comala's bow!" .... 

Fingal [enters safe from the battle]. " Raise, ye 
bards, the song; raise the wars of the streamy Carun! 
Caracul has fled from our arms along the fields of his 
pride. He sets far distant like a meteor, that incloses 
a spirit of night, when the winds drive it over the 
heath, and the dark woods are gleaming around." .... 
To review the whole question concerning the authen- 
ticity of these poems, is incompatible with the limits of 
a work not expressly written for the purpose : the 
conclusion, to which those who have investigated it 
" Comala is ilie lover ol Fingal. 



A.D. 211.] POEMS OF OSSIAN. 249 

have generally ai'rived, whilst it exonerated Macpherson 
from having attempted to practise an imposition upon 
the world, has left an imfavom'able impression of his 
accuracy, and convicts him of having unfaitlifuUy 
represented the compositions of the original poet. 
It can scarcely be doubted, that these verses were not 
written by Macpherson himself, but that they existed 
in shreds and fragments, which he put together so as 
to form complete poems ; and that he made trans- 
positions, con-ections, and additions with no sparing 
hand. But the lapse of fourteen centuries must have 
changed much of the language of the Caledonians, 
and of the phraseology of the poems : so that probably 
little but the sense and the outline of those com- 
positions have come down to us. Even with this view 
of the modifications which they have received, it is 
remarkable, that the " king of the world" should so 
accurately describe Severus the Roman emperor ; and 
that Caracul should point to his son and successor 
Caracalla, at times the leader of the Roman armies ; 
and, if Fingal can be taken as a genuine Caledonian 
warrior, not unlikely to have encountered him on the 
banks of the Carron, as recited in the lines of the old 
Caledonian bard. 

The son and successor of Severus was in every 
respect unworthy of his father. Immediately after the 
death of the old man, taking into his own hands the 
reins of government, he immediately put to death all 
the officers of the household : the physicians, because 
they would not use foul play against his father as he 
had requested them, and the tutors of himself and 
brother, because they troubled him with their ex- 
hortations to agree together. In short, he suHered 
none to remain alive who had enjoyed any office, or 



250 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. XV. 

been in attendance on the deceased. He also 
secretly courted the commanders of the army by gifts 
and ample promises, that they should persuade the 
army to make him sole emperor; and he sought every 
pretext to undermine his brother : but the troops were 
unmoved by all his solicitations, for they cherished 
the memory of the father, whose two sons, as they had 
nursed them alike in their infancy, they now honoured 
with equal loyalty and submission. Failing in this 
attempt on the soldiery ^, and finding that the war with 
the barbarians did not prosper, he made peace with 
them without delay, and, withdrawing all his troops 
and garrisons from their country % hastened into the 
south, to join his brother and mother. When they 
met, the mother and their father's councillors tried to 
bring the sons to a good understanding with one 
another. But Caracalla, seeing that every thing went 
against his wishes, by compulsion rather than of his 
own free will, was obliged to acknowledge his brother 
as possessing equal rank with himself, and to admit 
him to his share of the government. Having thus 
made a league of peace and friendship, as hollow and 
deceitful as it was short in its duration, the two 
brothers left Britain, and hastened to Rome, carrying 
with them the remains of their father. They had 
consumed the body with fire, and placed the ashes 
together with aromatics in an alabaster urn ; this they 
carried to Rome, to be deposited in the tomb of the 
emperors '\ 

By the departure of the two brothers, the north of 
Britain was again, in the beginning of the year 211, 

** 'Ettci [iff 7rpo6_Y<»pet avra ra rchv (TTpaToneBcov. Hei'Ocl. iii. 51. 

•= Zonaias, Hist. v. 19. 

■^ Herodian. iii. 51. Xiphil. Jxxvii. I. 



A.D. 21 1 237.] ASS.ASSINATION OF CARACALLA, kc. 251 

after a severe campaign of two years, freed from further 
invasion, and as fai- oflf as ever from being reduced to 
obedience to the Roman dominion. 

From this point of our history, a long period of time 
is passed over by historians with hardly a single notice 
of the events which occurred in Britain. The reign of 
Caracalla lasted till the year A.D. 217, when he was 
put out of the way by assassination, and gave place to 
Macrinus, who was himself murdered within two years. 
After him, Elagabalus was raised to the throne, a 
young man whose extravagant acts, whilst he was at 
the head of the Roman empire, can only be palliated 
or excused by the suspicion that his intellects were 
disordered. To Elagabalus succeeded his cousin 
Alexander, surnamed Severus, from the strictness of 
discipline which he maintained in the Roman armies. 
This excellent prince governed the Roman empu-e 
from A. D. 222 to A. D. 237, and was at last mur- 
dered, like so many of his predecessors, by his own 
soldiers. " The place where this occurred," says 
Lampridius ', " was Sicila, a village of Britain, or, as 
others say, of Gaul." Alexander happened to be there 
with a smaller attendance than usual, when some of his 
soldiers, who had a grudge against him on account of 
his severity, set upon him, and slew him. 

After his death, thirteen ^ emperors ruled the empire 
in succession until the year 270: their united reigns 

' Lamp, in Al. Sev. 59. The same story is found in Aurclius 
Victor, who wrote [A.D. 360.] eighty years after Lampridius; but 
he omits the words, " or as others say i" Gaul." Tt is certain that 
Alexander Severus never was in Britain. 

' Maximin, Gordian, Philip, Dccius, Galhis, ./Emilian, Valerian, 
Valerian, Gallienas, Claudius, A urclian, Tacitus, and Florian, arc the 
names of the emperors who reigiicd from 235 to 276. 



252 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV- 

amount to only forty years, a melancholy proof of the 
unsettled character of the times, and of the brief 
tenure by which successful aspirants to the purple 
enjoyed the object of their ambition. During the 
whole of this period historians are silent about Britain, 
and the only remaining records are limited to a few 
inscriptions found in different parts of the country, in 
which mention is made of the Roman emperor who 
reigned during the interval. The first of these, to 
which we shall here allude, was erected in the time of 
Gordian, and proves, that Nonnius Philippus was 
propraetor of Britain in A. D. 243, and that paganism 
was still flourishing in the island. 

I. o. M. 

PRO SALVTE IMPERATORIS 

M. ANTONI GORDIANI P. F. 

INVICTI AVG. ET SABINIAE TR- 

lAE TRANQVILE CONIVGI EIVS TO- 

TAQVE DOMV DIVIN. EORVM A- 

LA AVG. GORDIA. OB VIRTVTEM 

APELLATA POSVIT : CVI PRAE EST 

AEMILIVS CRISPINVS PRAEF. 

EQQ. NATVS IN PRO AFRICA DE 

TVIDRO SVB CVR NONNII PHI 

LIPPI LEG. AVG. PROPRETO 

ATTICO ET PRETEXTATO 

coss. 

To Jupiter Optimus Maximus 

For the health of the emperor 

M. Antonius Gordianus P. F. 

Invincible Augusta and Sahinia Fur- 

ia Tranquilla his wife and all 

their divine family the 

troop Augusta Gordiana, for their bravery 

so called^ hath placed this stone : which troop is comnuDided 



A.D. 243.] NONN. PHILIPPUS, GOV. OF BRITAIN. 25H 

hy Mmilius Crispinus prcefect 

of the cavalry, horn in . . . Africa . . 

.... under the care of Nonnius Phi- 

lippus, lieutenant of Augustus, proprcetor 

in the consulship of Atticus and Prcetexlatus. [A..D.24l.3.]« 

Another inscription is addressed to the emperor 
Philip and his son of the same name, [A.D. 246.] 

IMP. CAES. I M. IVL. I PHILIPPO | 

PIG FELI I CI I AVG | ET M. IVL PHI- | 

LIPPO NOBILIS I SIMO CAES. | TR. P. COS 

To the emperor Ccesar \ M. Julius \ Philippus \ the pious 
the fortunate | Augustus \ and M. Jul. Philippus most nohle 
CcDsar I Tribune of the people Consul. [A.D. 247.]" 

During the reign of GalUenus, who indulged in every 
kind of debauchery, the Roman empire fell into the 
utmost disorder and anarchy. A large number of 
usurpers arose in different places, to whom history has 
given the name of the thirty tyrants, though it is certain 
that they did not amount to more than half of that 
number. Of these, Lollianus, Victorianus, Postumus, the 
two Tetrici and Marius, are supposed to have assumed 
the sovereignty in this island, because their coins have 
been dug up more abundantly here than elsewhere. 
In the reign of Aurelian, an officer in the Roman army, 
named Bonosus, famous for his capacity of drinking, 
proclaimed himself emperor in conjunction with Pro- 
culus, and asserted his right to all Britain, Spain, and 
part of Gaul. This man was a Spaniard by birth, but his 
ancestors were from Britain, and his mother was of Gaul: 
his father, according to his own account, was by 
profession a rhetorician, but, according to others, a 

« Found in Cumberland. Camden's Brit. Goiigh, vol. iii. p. 424. 
*" Found near Thoresby in Cumberland. See Gough's Britannia, 
vol. iii. p. 42-5. 



25 1 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

school-master. Bonosus lost his father, when he was 
still young, but, as his mother was a woman of a strong 
and commanding mind, her son received from her the 
elements of a sound education. After vainly endea- 
vouring to excite in his favour the inhabitants of the 
provinces, where he assumed the purple, Bonosus was 
defeated by the troops of Probus, who at this time was 
emperor. In despair at his defeat, he hanged himself; 
and the Roman soldiers, remembering his powers of 
drinking, observed in derision, that " it was a bottle and 
not a man that was hanging there !" The emperor 
Probus, we are told, recompensed the fidelity of the 
Britons, Gauls, and Germans in resisting the solicitations 
of Bonosus, by granting them permission to cultivate 
the grape, and to manufacture wine'. 

Zosimus^ also relates, that a colony of Vandals and 
Burgundians was planted by Probus in Britain, where 
they subsequently distinguished themselves as loyal 
servants of the Roman state. After the death of 
Bonosus, another claimant of the purple meditated a 
revolt in Britain. His name has not been handed down 
to us, but at the request of Victorinus Maurusius, a 
courtier who possessed much influence with Probus, 
this man had been appointed to the government. As 
soon as Probus learnt that another contest for the 
empire most probably awaited him, he reproached 
Victorinus with having lent his influence to elevate an 
unfaithful officer. Victorinus entreated the emperor to 
be permitted to go to Britain ; and having received the 
consent of the emperor, he set out on his journey, and 
crossed over into the island, pretending to have fled from 
the emperor, and soliciting protection. The usurper 
received him kindly, and was murdered in the night by 

' Vopiscus in Pvob. 18. et Bonos. 14. '' Hist. lib. i. 68. 



A.D. 283.] CARUS DIOCLETIAN. 255 

Victorinus, who returned with all speed to the court of 
Probus, having vindicated himself from a charge of 
treachery by an act of treachery and murder combined*. 
The successor of Probus was Carus, who reigned in 
the year 283 and 284. He appointed his two sons, 
Carinus and Numerian, to the office of Caesar, and 
assigned to the charge of the eldest the defence of 
It^ly, Gaul, Illyricum, Spain, and Britain. Some writers 
have said, that Carinus earned on the war personally in 
Britain, and they quote as their authority the lines of 
Nemesian : 

Thy glorious deeds far as the frozen North 
Demand my song, and call me to set forth 
The son surpassing his immortal sire ™. 

but the vague language of poetry cannot be admitted 
as a sufficient authority for such a supposition : proba- 
bility rather confirms the statement of the historian", 
who tells us, that the young prince, neglectful of the 
duties which devolved on him, and careless of the decline 
which was now rapidly progressing in the empire, 
disgraced his character by indulgence in the most 
abominable vices. 

The next emperor after Carus and his two sons, was 
Diocletian, a man of ability and energy for the age in 
which he lived, and qualified perhaps more than any of 
his contemporaries to check for a time the downward 
progress of the state. But the care of so large an 
empire was loo much for one emperor, and the principle 
of having an associate in the government was now 
become a matter of necessity. To relieve himself of a 
portion of his labours, Diocletian made choice of Maxi- 
mian as his partner in the empire, and the new emperor 

' Zo)iaras iv. 7. Zobinius i. 66. " Nemesian Cyneg. 69. 

" Vopiscus in C'ariii. i. 



256 HISTORY OF THE AKCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

immediately occupied himself with the important charge 
which he had undertaken. About this time the northern 
nations began to make themselves truly formidable to 
the degenerate Romans : two tribes, not heard of in 
former ages, the Franks and the Saxons, now harassed 
without intermission the coasts of Gaul, Holland, 
Belgium, and Britain. Their incursions, being carried 
on principally by sea, were the more destructive, because 
it was out of the power of the inhabitants to foresee 
where they would next appear, and consequently 
impossible to assemble in sufficient force to oppose 
them. That these countries might not be totally lost 
to their government, the emperor appointed Carausius 
to command a fleet stationed at Gesoriacum, or Bou- 
logne, with orders to intercept and destroy the piratical 
tribes who infested those narrow seas. Carausius is 
called by the historians a citizen of Menepia", but it 
is not agreed what interpretation is to be put upon this 
name. Some suppose him to have belonged to the 
Belgian tribe of the Menapii, others to have been a 
native of Menavia, or St. David's in Wales ; but it is 
evident, that the absence of more specific statements 
of original writers must preclude us from coming to 
a decision on this point. But, whatever was the birth 
of Carausius, he was an able commander and expert 
sailor : and so distinguished himself in the war carried 
on by Maximian against the pirates, that his appoint- 
ment to the command of the fleet was not only the just 
reward of his services, but seemed the most judicious 
course that could be adopted to protect the Roman 
commerce. But this promotion inspired views of 

° Auiel, Vict, de Caes. 39. Eutropius, ix. 21. and Orosius, vii. 25. 
describe him as a man of low origin, bnt are silent about the place of 
his birth. 



A.D. 287.] CARAUSJUS. 257 

ambition, which would be ascribed to a want of 
public principle in any other age, when ideas of 
justice and of patriotism had a definite existence : 
but in the distracted condition to which Europe was 
then reduced, and the low state to which the laws of 
morality had fallen, the conduct of Carausius is not 
worse than that of nearly all his contemporaries ; and, 
on the other hand, his failings are set off by merits 
peculiarly his own. On first receiving the charge of 
the fleet, he set himself diligently to fulfil the duties 
of his office. Many of the barbarous Franks and 
Saxons were taken prisoners, and a check was put 
to their piracies : but it was at length found out, that 
the Roman commander neither restored the booty 
which he had recaptured, nor delivered it over to 
the government: and there were good reasons to 
suspect, that Carausius allowed the pirates to make 
theu* captures, that he might afterwards set upon them 
on their return, and secure for himself the booty 
which they had taken. The report of these pro- 
ceedings at last reached the ears of Maximian, who 
immediately issued orders that Carausius should be 
put to death. But Carausius was soon apprised of the 
emperor's intentions, and of the sentence which l.ad 
been passed on him. How far he had prepared him- 
self for such a course of conduct, we are left to 
conjecture; but it now became evident, that if he 
wished to preserve his life, it must be at the sacrifice 
of his duty to the emperor. Carausius at once as- 
sumed the imperial purple, declared himself inde- 
pendent of Diocletian and JVlaximian, and [)repared 
to maintain his pretensions witli all the forces he 
could muster P. The sailors of the fleet were so 

'' .lornandes do rogii. sue. 7. 



258 HISTORY OF T-HE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV, 

attached to their commander, that they all to a man 
declared in his favour, and thus the only means of 
which his enemies might readily avail themselves to 
reduce him to obedience, became the instruments of 
his success^ Other ships of war were constructed 
without delay on the model of those which he now 
had : a Roman legion, and several troops of foreign 
soldiers, were either by compulsion or stratagem se- 
cured to his cause ; many of the traders from Gaul 
were induced to enlist in his army; even the bar- 
barians furnished large supplies of men, allured by 
the wealth which had been gathered from the spoils 
of the provinces, and was now unsparingly employed 
to strengthen him in the enterprise which he had 
undertaken. All these levies were instructed in naval 
tactics under the tuition of the greatest admiral of the 
age ; and it is not surprising that success smiled upon 
the attempt. On the other hand, the interests of 
Maximian suffered from the same causes which ele- 
vated his rival. The Romans were never very apt in 
acquiring naval science, and the abstraction of all 
their fleet was a blow which could not easily be 
remedied. All those who were apprehensive of 
punishment, for social or political offences, naturally 
fled to Carausius; and the rough waves of the 
northern seas, which three hundred and fifty years 
before had astonished and alarmed the soldiers of 
Julius Caesar, struck a terror into their degenerate 
descendants, which prevented them from speedily at- 
tacking the bold usurper **. 

To heighten still more the difficulties which at this 
time surrounded the empire, whilst Carausius was 
conducting his successful revolt in Britain, Acliilleus 
^ Eumen. Panes;. Const. Caes. diet, c, 9 — -19. 



A.D. 288.] CARAUSIUS. 25^^ 

was rebelling in Egypt; the Quinquegentians were 
infesting Africa, and Narseus, king of Persia, pressed 
the provinces of the east with unceasing warfare. 
ft was therefore impossible for Diocletian to assist 
his colleague ; and it hardly surprises us, that Maxi- 
raian, after trying in vain to reduce the usurper by 
arms, at last concluded a peace with him, bestowing on 
him the title of Augustus, and entrusting to him the 
care of those provinces which Carausius had already 
occupied without Maximian's permission. The peace 
with Carausius was made in the year 289, and two 
or three years after, two new Csesars were appointed, 
Constantius and Galerius, to assist the emperors in sup- 
porting the burden and maintaining the frontiers of 
the empire'. The former of these is said to have been 
the grandson of the emperor Claudius, by his daughter; 
Maximianus Galerius was born in Dacia, not far from 
Sardica. To unite these by relationship also, Con- 
stantius married Theodora the daughter-in-law of 
Herculius, who afterwards bore him six sons, brothers 
of Constantine; and Galerius married Valeria, Dio- 
cletian's daughter. Both of them were compelled to 
repudiate their former wives. 

These cares distracted the attention of Diocletian 
and Maximian, and gave Carausius time to arrange 
the business of his insular sovereignty. Of the 
measures by which he maintained his independence 
in Britain during seven years, the Roman historians 
are silent: but we are assured by Venerable Bede% 
who wrote A. 1). 730, that Carausius defended and 
maintained with vigour the sovereignty whicii he- 
had invaded; and Nennius*, who wrote still later, 

' Eutiopius ix. 22. ' Bed. Hist. Eccl. i. 19. ' Npiiii. 

Hist. Brit. c. 19, 20. 

S 2 



260 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [OH. XV. 

records, that he defeated the Britons with much loss, 
and rebuilt the wall which had been originally con- 
structed by Severus, strengthening it by the erection 
of seven additional towers at various distances between 
the two extremities., In triumph for his victory over 
these nations, Carausius erected on the banks of the 
river Carron, which is said, but no doubt erroneouslyy 
to have derived its name from him, a " round house 
with polished stones," and a triumphal arch, in imi- 
tation of similar trophies erected by former emperors 
at Rome. But the author of this was not Nennius, 
though the passage appears in his workj it has 
probably been interpolated at a later period, for the 
appellation of Picts and Scots, which is there given for 
the first time to the Caledonians, does not occur in 
other writers until a later date. 

Whilst, however, the Roman historians say little of 
the brave man who defied for so long a time the 
power of their emperors, the traditions of the Cale- 
donians, if we are to believe those legendary poems of 
Ossian and others^ which we have before quoted in 
this work ", have not omitted to record the deeds of 
one of the most powerful of their enemies; and the 
'' war of Caros" may perhaps contain faint traces 
of the contests which Carausius waged against those 
northern tribes. 

" ' What does Caros, king of ship ?' said the son 
of the now mournful Ossian ; ' spreads he the wings ^ of 
his pride, bard of the times of old?' — ' He spreads 
them, Oscar,' replied the bard, ' but it is behind his 
gathered heap : he looks over his stones with fear : he 
beholds thee terrible, as the ghost of night, that rolls 
the wave to his ships !' — ' Go, thou first of my bards T 
" See p. 248. ^ The Roman eagle. 



A.D. 289.] THE WAR OF CAROS. 261 

says Oscar, ' take the spear of Fingal : iix a flame on 
its point : shake it to the winds of heaven : bid him in 
songs to advance, and leave the rolling of his wave. 
Tell to Caros, that I long for battle ; that my bow is 
weary of the chase of Cona. Tell him the mighty are 
not here ; and that my arm is young.' . . . 

" Ryno came to the mighty Caros: he struck his 
flaming spear. Come to the battle of Oscar, O thou 
that sittest on the rolling of the waves 

" The heroes move with their songs. Oscar slowly 
ascends the hill. . . . Oscar drew his sword ! * Come,' 
said the hero, ' O ye ghosts of my fathers! ye that 
fought against the kings of the world!' 

" Oscar passed the night among his fathers ; grey 
morning met him on Carun's banks. A green vale 
surrounded a tomb which arose in the times of old. 
Little hills lift their heads at a distance, and stretch 
their old trees to the wind. The warriors of Caros sat 

there, for they had passed the stream by night 

A thousand spears arose around; the people of Caros 

rose The battle came, but they fell : bloody was 

the sword of Oscar. 

" The noise reached his people at Crona; they came 
like a hundred streams : the warriors of Caros fled. 
Oscar remained like a rock left by the setting sun. 
Now dark and deep with all his steeds, Caros rolled 
his night along ; the little streams are lost in his course; 
the earth is rocking round: battle spreads from wing 
to wing; ten thousand swords gleam at once in the 
sky. But why should Ossian sing of battles:' For 
never more shall my steel shine in war. I remember 
the days of my youth with grief, when I i'eel the weak- 
ness of my arm. Happy are they who fell in their 
youth, in the midst of their renown! They have not 



262 HISTORY OF THE ANCIEJJT BRITONS. [CU. XV. 

beheld the tombs of their friends, or failed to bend the 
bow of their strength. Happy art thou, O Oscar, in 
the midst of thy rushing blast. Thou often goest to 
the fields of thy fame, where Caros fled from thy lifted 
sword !" 

These lines remind the classical reader of those ex- 
pressions in the Roman historians, which speak of the 
success of the usurper, of his wars with the Caledonians, 
and of the wall which he built or repaired to protect 
himself from their incursions: they add moreover, 
what the Roman writers have omitted to mention, that 
Caros or Carausius recoiled from the bold barbarians 
of the north, who still maintained the independence of 
their country, which so many imperial armies had 
assailed in vain. But the genuineness of these poems 
has not been sufficiently established to authorize their 
being cited for facts which history has not recorded. 
We may regret, that the picture which they off'er has 
not sufficient guarantee for its fidelity, and may express 
a hope, that he who first published them to the world, 
could hardly have been so base as to create from his 
own fancy the personages, who give such life to the 
narrative, and such verisimilitude to the history. 

But a more undoubted source of information for the 
reign of Carausius in Britain, are his coins, which 
remain in such abundance, that every one who forms a 
numismatic cabinet may without difficulty procure a 
large number of those which were struck by Carausius 
in this island. The reverses, however, of these authentic 
relics of antiquity furnish us with little additional 
information concerning the northern tribes who were at 
war with Carausius, but, like all other monuments of 
the Romans, pass over in silence every thing except 
what happens among themselves. They shew that 



A.TD. 2S9.] COINS OF CARAUSIUS. 263 

Carausius, though owing his success to the natural 
advantages which Britain possesses for asserting her 
Hberties against all the world, was little disposed to 
identify himself with the mass of its people, and chose 
rather to aflFect, in a remote province, all the state and 
dignity of a Roman empire. On the coins and medals 
of this prince we read the proud titles, imperator caivs 
CARAVSivs Pivs FELIX AVGVSTVS, The emperor Cains 
Carausius the Pious, the Happy, Augustus! On the 
reverse are different inscriptions, indicating the different 
acts of the drama which he was playing. The words 
CONCORDIA AVGG. The concovii of the Augu^ti ! record 
the treaty entered into by Maximian after his ineffectual 
attempt to expel Carausius from his newly-acquired 
sovereignty. VAK asg. The peace of Augustus] tran- 
QVILLITAS AVG. The tranquillity of Augustus ! saecvli 
FELiciTAS, The happiness of the age ! plainly indicate 
the prosperity which was supposed to be enjoyed by the 
people of the insular empire: whils! adventvs avg. 
The coming of Augustus I probably describes the joy 
which his first arrival in Britain occasioned, in a less 
degree perhaps to the people, than to himself who had 
escaped out of the hands of the bloody-intentioned 
Maximian ! 

It has been said by modern writers, that the term 
during which Carausius reigned was ojie of great 
prosperity to Britain : and his name is thought to exist 
still in the Carsdike of Cambridge, besides other works 
which are supposed to have proceeded from his creative 
genius. But tlie peace which Maximian had granted 
was rather a respite than a cessation from war, and 
Carausius could not calculate upon its long continuance. 
The appointment of two new Cjesars, Constantius and 
Galerius, infused new vigour into the veins of the 



264 HISTORY OF THE ANCtENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

empire. The imperial sceptre was more powerful in 
the hands of four associates, each possessing no mean 
abilities to command; and Constantius, to whose lot 
fell the provinces of the west, prepared himself in an 
incredibly short time to wrest from his bold rival the 
possession of the British island, and the continental 
territories which he held. To effect this purpose, the 
first step which Constantius took was to lay siege to 
the town of Gessoriacum, or Boulogne, with the 
numerous troops which he had so rapidly levied. Of 
the events which then happened, no historical records 
remain to us ; all that we know of them is derived from 
the panegyrical Orations addressed to the reigning 
emperors by Eumenius, Drepanius, and others, who were 
contemporary with the facts which they relate, but may 
reasonably be supposed to have clothed them in such 
ornaments as would best please or flatter the prince in 
whose praise they were delivered. Yet the panegyric ^ 
of Eumenius, spoken in the year 296, gives us a 
tolerable idea of the progress made by Constantius at 
the end of A.D. 292. 

" By the promptitude of your arrival, illustrious 
Caesar, you made Gaul your own. The rapidity of your 
movements, by which you anticipated the news of your 
coming, brought surprise and fatal error to that piratical 
crew, who were shut up within the walls of Gessoriacum, 
and deprived them, notwithstanding their former trust 
in the sea, of the use of the very waves which flowed 
up to their gates. In this too your heaven-sent pru- 
dence, and success equalling your prudence, were most 
apparent, for all that expanse of water which at stated 
times is brought up by the alternating tide, was rendered 
inaccessible to ships by the piles which you fixed across, 
'• Eumen. Pan. Const. Cses, diet. A.D. 296. c. 6. 



A.D. 292.] SIEGE OF BOULOGNE. 265 

and the stones which you heaped in upon them ; and 
thus you surmounted the natural difficuhies of the spot 
by your admirable ingenuity : the sea in vain rising 
after every ebb seemed to mock those whose escape you 
had cut off, as if it was no longer of service to the 
besieged, as if it had altogether ceased to flow !" 

Carausius, however, had little trust in his ai-my, which 
could hardly equal half of that which Constantius had 
brought against it. He at once saw the danger of meeting 
his foe by land, and fled with all haste to Britain, before 
the harbour of Boulogne was blocked up. The nai- 
rative may be resum^ed in the words of Mamertinus, who 
in the same year, immediately after the taking of 
Boulogne, delivered a Panegyric to the emperors 
Diocletian and Maximian ' : 

" 8uch has been your good fortune, great emperors, 
that your armies have now reached the shores of the 
ocean, and the ebbing waves have engulphed the 
corpses of your enemies, who lie dead upon that coast. 
What must now be the feelings of that pirate, [Ca- 
rausius,] when he sees your armies passing over that 
strait, which has hitherto been the only barrier between 
him and death, and, heedless of danger, following the 
very ocean in its retreat? What other distant island 
is there for him to retire to? What other ocean 
remains to protect him? How will he now escape 
punishment from the republic, unless the earth yawns 
to receive him, or the whirlwind carries him far away 
into the desert? Our noble ships are furnished with 
every equipment, and ready to launch into the ocean 
from every river's mouth." 

We resume the nan-ative of Eumenius, which ex- 
plains a brief delay, imposed by the necessity of 

' Maintrl. I'uiifg. Mux. Hero. diet. A.D. 292, c II. 12. 



266 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

circumstances on Constantius, ere he could safely 
follow Carausius to his insular retreat. " The whole 
war, invincible Csesar [Constantius], might have been 
ended by the first impulse of your valour and your 
good fortune ; but it was necessary to allow time, that 
ships might be built for the undertaking : but this did 
not prevent you from employing the interval to reduce 
those enemies, who were accessible, because they lived 
upon the main land^." . . . . " Forgive me, Csesar, 
if I am at one time too rapid, at another too slow, in 
recording your deeds. I omit many events which 
occurred, whilst your passage to Britain was in pre- 
paration, admirable achievements of your valour! whilst 
I hasten to that singular victory, by which the integrity 
of the republic was at last vindicated. Its magnitude 
will be best explained, if I first shew, how necessary, 
how difficult, was the war, by which this consummation 
was effected. 

" The separation of these provinces from the Ro- 
man privileges under the emperor Gallienus, however 
melancholy, was less disgraceful than this last. For 
at that time, either by some negligence, or the decrees 
of destiny, the republic was mutilated in all its mem- 
bers But at present, when the whole world had been 

subdued, not only those parts of it where the Roman 
soldier had once trodden, but those also which were 
occupied by the barbarians; we are not ashamed to 
confess, that the abstraction of Britain was a reproach 
upon all of us not to be endured. That island still 
passes under the general name of Britain, but its loss 
was no trifle to the republic, so productive is it in 
fruit, and fertile in pastures, so rich in metals, and 
valuable for its contributions to the treasury, sur- 

" Ibid. c. 7. 



A.D. 296.] PREPARATIONS OF CONSTANTIUS. 267 

rounded on all sides with abundance of harbours, and 
an immense line of sea-coast." 

To raise a fleet able to cope with that of Carausius, 
was an exertion that called forth all the energy of 
Constantius ; and four more years elapsed after the 
capture of Boulogne, before the Caesar ventured to 
assemble his men, and attempt to pass the sea in the 
fleet which he had equipped. In the mean time, the 
treachery of a friend and confidential minister removed 
out of the way of Constantius the formidable enemy, 
against whom he was using so much precaution. 
In A. D. 293, Carausius, after a reign of seven years, 
was basely murdered by Allectus, who succeeded to 
the honours of sovereignty lately enjoyed by his 
victim ^. The success which attended this base action 
was not maintained by abilities equal to those of the 
deceased. Allectus held the sovereign power in Bri- 
tain three years, and illustrated his claims to the 
imperial dignity by assuming titles, and striking coins, 
bearing all the proud appellations which were supposed 
to belong to the station which he afl"ected. He pos- 
sibly maintained the fleet in the same state in which 
his predecessor had left it; but a greater guarantee 
for his temporary security was the incompleteness of 
the preparations of Constantius, which prevented him 
from yet attempting to reconquer Britain. At length, 
in the year 296, the Caesar felt himself in a condition 
to renew his intentions of crossing the sea to meet the 
rebel army in the island, where they had during ten 
years set at nought the threats, and defied the power, 
of all the Roman world. The rhetorical language of 



" Eiimpiiiijs Pan. Consl. Cscs. diet. A. D. 296, c. 3. I'.iilrop. Hist, 
ix. 22. Oros. \ ii. 25. 



268 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

the panegyrist ", who drew his information from some 
of the soldiers of Constantius, will be the vehicle to 
inform the reader of the events which followed. 

" This, Caesar, was the warfare which you undertook ; 
and from the moment that your majesty aimed its 
thunders at the enemy, we considered the war as ended. 
So variously did you arrange your troops and distribute 
your fleets, that the enemy, uncertain of your attack, 
and not knowing how to defend himself, at length 
perceived that he was not defended by the Ocean, but 
a prisoner within its waves. 

" Unlike former princes, who remained at home, and 
by their auspices alone conducted foreign wars, you, 
invincible Caesar, entered yourself into the toils of that 
sea voyage, and encouraged your men both by your 
precept and your example. You were the first to set 
forth from Gessoriacum upon the Ocean; and when 
your army, sailing down the Seine, had joined you, 
though its commanders hesitated, and had fears of the 
state of the weather and of the waves, yet the soldiers 
and sailors, inspired by your exhortations, cried out for 
the signal to weigh anchor, despised the threatening 
symptoms of bad weather, and put to sea on a rainy 
day, content to trust themselves to a side-wind, because 
it would not blow upon their stern '^. But who would 
not commit himself to the sea, however stormy, if you 
were to conduct the navigation ? It is said, that all to a 
man, when they heard that you were going with them, 
cried out with one voice, ' Why do we hesitate? why 
waste the time ? He is already weighing anchor, he is 

" Eumenius Pan. Const. Cses. diet. A.D. 296. c. 3. 

■^ This seems to imply, that it was thouglit dangerous in those days 
to sail with a side-wind. If so, it shews that no gi'eat progress had 
been yet made in ihe art of navigation. 



A.D. 290. J EXPEDITION OF CONSTANTIUS. 2(39 

already on his voyage, and perhaps has landed. Let us 
brave every wind, no matter what waves may rise against 
us. What can we have to fear, when we follow in the 
track of Caesar ?' 

" And this belief in your good fortune was not disap- 
pointed. For, as we have heard from some of those 
very men, the fogs so covered the whole surface of the 
sea, that the hostile fleet, which had been placed at the 
Isle of Wight to look out and take us by surprise, were 
ignorant of our being near them, and we passed safely 
by them, without experiencing the slightest delay, much 
less opposition, at their hands. Thus, when your in- 
vincible army, landing on the coast of Britain, immedi- 
ately set fire to all their ships, what but the inspiration 
of youi- divine impulse led them to this act ? what other 
motive led them to cut off all their chance of escape, 
and to despise the common dangers of war, if not the 
contemplation of your greatness, the certainty of victory? 
They had no thought of human force or human power, 
but solely that they were fighting under your divine 
auspices. When battle lies before the soldier, to 
promise himself success, flows rather from the good 
fortune of the general, than his own temerity. But why 
did the leader of that iniquitous crew [Allectus] with- 
draw from the shore which he had occupied ? why did 
he leave his fleet and the harbour, but because he 
feared your coming, invincible Csesar, when he saw your 
sails floating above the waves? He chose rather to 
share the fortune of his officers, than to await the 
impending thunders of your majesty. Madman that he 
was, he knew not that, wherever he might flee, he 
would meet the power of your divinity, wherever your 
countenance shone, wherever men bowed the knee 
before vour ensi":ns ! 



210 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XV. 

" But, though he fled from you, he fell into the hands 
of your soldiers : from you he received his defeat, by 
your armies he was at last destroyed. So overwhelmed 
with fear was he at your approach, that he rushed, as 
it were, on death, without marshalling his ranks, or 
bringing into action all the troops which he had 
brought with him, but only those veterans who had 
first conspired with him, and the bands of barbarians 
whom he had enlisted. Thus, Csesar, by the favour of 
your good fortune, the empire of Rome triumphed, 
without the effusion of Roman blood : for, as I have 
heard, all those extensive plains and hills are covered 
with no corpses but those of the most ignoble of our 
enemies. Those barbarians, whether really or ap- 
parently so^ who once blazed with splendid garments 
and length of hair, were then defiled with blood and 
dust, and lay scattered in different directions, as the 
anguish of their wounds had driven them. The leader 
of that noble band, casting off the robes which alive he 
had violated, was with difficulty found among the dead, 
a single article of his dress indicating where his corpse 
was lying. 

" Such, invincible Caesar, was the consent of the 
immortal Gods upon your achievements, that your 
destruction of the enemy, and especially of those of 
them who were Franks, became most signal and com- 
plete : for when those of your soldiers, who had been 
separated by a fog from the others, arrived at the town 
of London, they put to death in the streets of the city 
a large number of that mercenary multitude, who had 
fled thither from the battle, and hoped to escape and 
bear with them the plunder of that city. 

" By this victory, not only Britain was freed from 
slavery, but security was given to all other nations also. 



A. D. 296.] CONSTANTIUS RECOVERS BRITAIN. 271 

which, in passing over the sea on pursuits of com- 
merce, might derive as much injury from war, as 
benefit from the reestabUshment of peace. 

" Truly then may it be said, that you landed as a 
liberator on the British shores : the natives with wives 
and children met you with acclamations, and looked 
upon you as one descended from heaven to their aid. 
They even worshipped the sails and oars of the ship 
which brought you, and were prepared to carpet the 
road for you with their bodies. Nor was this wonder- 
ful : after a wretched slavery " of so many years, after 
their wives had been violated, their children consigned 
to slavery, they at last were freed, were restored to the 
liberties and privileges of Romans, and again rejoiced 
in the true light of the Reman empire !" 

The island of Britain was thus reconquered ; and 
Constantius, its victor, added it to the extensive pro- 
vinces which, as Caesar, he held under his dominion. 
In the year 304, he became emperor by the death of 
Diocletian. But his enjoyment of that rank was but 
of short duration, serving rather to usher into public 
notice his son and successor, Constantine the Great, 
who, though not superior in merits to his illustrious 
father, yet starting from the high point to which 
Constantius had attained, encircled his name with 
a ray of glory, which still lives in the pages of 
historians. 

• This applies rather to the reign of Allectus than of his pre- 
decessoi", who is thought to have been a good and liumane governor: 
but the flatterer of Constantius may of course be excused for rei)re- 
senling the enemy in the most unfavourable colours. 



CHAP. XVI. 



PERSECUTIOK OF THE CHRISTIANS FROM A.D. 303 TO 313 — LESS VIOLENT 
IN BRITAIN — THE LEGEND OP THE. PASSION OF SAINT ALBAN PRO- 
BABLY MUOH INTERPOLATED. 



The reign of Diocletian, for the most part honourable 
to the emperor, and affording to his subjects a stability 
somewhat unusual at this period of the empire, has 
received a stain, not easily to be effaced, from the 
religious persecution which broke out towards its con- 
clusion. In the year BOS'*, not long before the abdica- 
tion of Diocletian and Maximian, the new sect of the 
Christians had increased so fast and so extensively, 
that it was determined by the court to put to death all 
who could not be induced to return to the ancient 
modes of faith. This persecution, the tenth which has 
been recorded in the annals of the Church, raged with 
the greatest fury in Greece and Asia; but the mild 
character and benevolent administration of Constantius, 
father of Constantine the Great, would lead to the 
inference, that its violence was much mitigated in 
Britain, Germany, and Gaul. It is unfortunate for 
the cause of truth that the history of these transactions 
has come dov/n to us principally from the pen of the 

" This date is sufficiently ascertained. See Clinton's Fasti Rouiani, 
page 344. 



A.D.303.] DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTES THE CHIUSTIANS, 273 

ecclesiastical writers, who have not scrupled to inter- 
weave the gi'ossest fables and most absurd legends into 
their narratives; and to invent tales, which, in the days 
of ignorance, served to delude the vulgar, but have 
cast such a doubt over the ecclesiastical history of the 
first three centuries, that it is now almost impossible to 
separate the true from the false. 

The only writers who relate the effect of this perse- 
cution on Britain are Gildas and Venerable Bede, 
who, in the beginning of the eighth century, used gTcat 
diligence to obtain all the information which could be 
procured concerning the times that preceded his own. 
His account of the persecution of Diocletian is as 
follows " : 

" Diocletian in the East, and Maximian Herculius in 
the West, commanded the churches to be destroyed, and 
the Christians to be slain. This persecution was the 
tenth since the reign of Nero, and was more lasting 
and bloody than all others before it; for it was carried 
on incessantly for the space often years •", with burning 
of churches, outlawing of innocent persons, and the 
slaughter of martyrs. At length'' it reached Britain 
also, and many persons, with the constancy of martyrs, 
died in the confession of their faith. 

At that time suffered St. Alban, of whom the priest 
Fortunatus, in the " Praise of Virgins," where he makes 
mention of the blessed martyrs that came to the Lord 
from all parts of the world, says, 

Albaiiuin egregiuin fa'cuiida Britiiiiiiia pvofoit. 
Then fertile lirilain holy .^Iban bore. 

" This Alban, being yet a pagan, at the time wlien the 

'■ Hist. Kccles. lili. i. c. 7. '• From 303 to 313. 

'' Deniquc. 



274 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVI. 

cruelties of wicked princes were raging against Chris- 
tians, gave entertainment in his house to a certain 
Clergyman, flying from his persecutors. This man he 
observed to be engaged in continual prayer and watch- 
ing day and night: when on a sudden the Divine 
grace shining on him, he began to imitate the example 
of faith and piety which was set before him, and being 
gradually instructed by his wholesome admonitions, he 
cast off the darkness of idolatry, and became a Chris- 
tian in all sincerity of heart. The aforesaid Clergyman 
having been some days entertained by him, it came to 
the ears of tlie wicked prince, that this holy confessor 
of Christ, whose time of martyrdom had not yet come, 
was concealed in Alban's house. Whereupon he sent 
some soldiers to make a strict search after him. When 
they came to the martyr's house, St. Alban immediately 
presented himself to the soldiers, instead of his guest 
and master, in the habit or long coat which he wore^ 
and was led bound before the judge. It happened 
that the judge, at the time when Alban was carried 
before him, was standing at the altar, and offering 
sacrifice to devils. When he saw Alban, being much 
enraged that he should thus, of his own accord, put 
himself into the hands of the soldiers, and incur such 
danger in behalf of his guest, he commanded him to 
be dragged up to the images of the devils, before 
which he stood, saying, ' Because you have chosen to 
conceal a rebellious and sacrilegious person, rather 
than to deliver him up to the soldiers, that his con- 
tempt of the gods might meet with the penalty due to 
such blasphemy, you shall undergo all the punish- 
ment that was due to him, if you abandon the worship 
of our religion.' But St. Alban, who had voluntarily 
declared himself a Christian to the persecutors of the 



A.D. 303 318.] LEGEND OF ST. ALBAN. 275 

faith, was not at all daunted at the prince's threats, hut, 
putting on the armour of spiritual warfare, publicly 
declared that he would not obey the commands. Then 
said the judge, ' Of what family or race are you?' 
' What does it concern you,' answered Alban, ' of 
what stock I am? If you desire to hear the 
truth of my religion, be it known to you, that I am 
now a Christian, and bound by Christian duties.' * I 
ask your name,' said the judge, ' tell me it immediately!' 
' I am called Alban by my parents,' replied he, ' and 
I worship and adore the true and living God, who 
created all things.' Then the judge, inflamed with 
anger, said, ' If you will enjoy the happiness of 
eternal life, do not delay to offer sacrifice to the great 
gods.' Alban rejoined, ' These sacrifices, which by 
you are offered to devils, neither can avail the subjects, 
nor answer the wishes or desires, of those that offer up 
their supplications to them. On the contrary, whoso- 
ever shall offer sacrifice to these images, shall receive 
the everlasting pains of hell for his reward.' 

" The judge, hearing these words, and being much 
incensed, ordered this holy Confessor of God to be 
scourged by the executioners ; believing he might by 
stripes shake that constancy of heart, on which he 
could not prevail by words. He, being most cruelly 
tortured, bore the same patiently, or rather joyfully, 
for our Lord's sake. When the judge perceived that 
he was not to be overcome by tortures, or withdrawn 
from the exercise of the Christian religion, he ordered 
him to be put to death. Being led to execution, he 
came to a river, which, with a most rapid course, ran 
between the wall of the town and the arena where he 
was to be executed. He there saw a multitude of 
persons of both sexes, and of several ages and con- 
T 2 



276 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [OH. XVf, 

ditions, who were doubtlessly assembled by Divine 
instinct, to attend the blessed confessor and martyr, 
and had so taken up the bridge on the river, that he 
could scarce pass over that evening-. In short, almost 
all had gone out, so that the judge remained in the 
city without attendance. St. Alban, therefore, urged 
by an ardent and devout wish to arrive quickly at 
martyrdom, drew near to the stream, and, on lifting up 
his eyes to heaven, the channel was immediately dried 
up, and he perceived that the water had departed, and 
made way for him to pass. Among the rest, the 
executioner, who was to have put him to death, 
observed this, and, moved by Divine inspiration, 
hastened to meet him at the place of execution ; and, 
casting down the sword which he had carried ready 
drawn, fell at his feet, praying that he might rather 
suffer with the martyr, whom he was ordered to execute, 
or, if possible, instead of him. Whilst he thus from a 
persecutor was become a companion in the faith, and 
the other executioners hesitated to take up the sword 
which was lying on the ground, the reverend confessor, 
accompanied by the multitude, ascended a hill, about 
five hundred paces from the place, adorned, or rather 
clothed, with all kinds of flowers, having its sides 
neither perpendicular, nor even craggy, but sloping 
down into a most beautiful plain, worthy from its 
lovely appearance to be the scene of a martyr's 
sufferings. On the top of this hill St. Alban prayed 
that God would give him water, and immediately a 
living spring broke out before his feet, the course 
being confined, so that all men perceived that the 
river also had been dried up in consequence of the 
martyrs presence. Nor was it likely that the martyr, 
who had left no water remaining in the river, should 



A.D. 303 — 313,] LEGEND OF ST. ALBAN. 277 

want some on the top of the hill, unless he thought 
it suitable to the occasion. The river, having per- 
formed the holy service, returned to its natural course, 
leaving a testimony of its obedience. 

" Here, therefore, the head of our most courageous 
martyr was struck off, and here he received the crown 
of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. 
But he who gave the wicked stroke, was not permitted 
to rejoice over the deceased : for his eyes dropped upon 
the ground, together with the blessed martyr s head. 

" At the same time was also beheaded the soldier, who 
before, through the divine admonition, refused to give 
the stroke to the holy confessor. Of whom it is appa- 
rent, that though he was not regenerated by baptism, 
yet he was cleansed by the washing of his own blood, 
and rendered worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven. 
Then the judge, astonished at the novelty of so many 
heavenly miracles, ordered the persecution to cease 
immediately, beginning to honour the death of the 
saints, by which he before thought they might have 
been diverted from the Christian faith. The blessed 
Alban suffered death on the twenty-second day of June, 
near the city of Verulam, which is now by the English 
•nation called Verlamacestir, or Varlingacestir, where 
afterwards, when peaceable Christian times were 
restored, a church of wonderful workmanship, and 
suitable to his martyrdom, was erected. In which 
place, there ceases not to this day the cure of sick 
persons, and the frequent working of wonders. 

" At the same time suffered Aaron and Julius, citizens 
of Chester, and many more of both sexes, in several 
places ; who, wlieri they had endured sundry torments, 
and their limbs had been torn after an unheard ol" 
manner, yielded their souls up, t<i enjoy in the heavenly 



278 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVI, 

city a reward for the sufferings which they had passed 
through," 

The general accuracy of Venerable Bede is a point 
which modern writers acknowledge without difficulty : 
it is equally true that he has fallen into many errors, 
principally in the matter of dates, arising probably from 
the small number of books of which he could avail 
himself in a remote monastery of Northumberland, at so 
early a period as the commencement of the eighth 
century. It is also not surprising, that his implicit faith 
in all that his Church taught should have led him to 
attach much credit to miracles and legends of saints, 
which ought not to be admitted into sober history. 
The preceding account of Saint Alban's martyrdom 
bears upon its surface a legendary character, from which 
cool reason will have no difficulty in setting aside all 
that is miraculous and supernatural. But it is attended 
with a chronological difficulty of a more serious nature. 
It is clear from the words of Bede, that the persecution 
of which St. Alban was the victim, lasted ten years, 
which, by the agreement of all historians, are to be 
counted from its commencement in A. D. -303. The 
expression, " at length," which Bede employs to designate 
the time when this persecution reached Britain, implies 
that it did not commence in our island so soon as in 
those parts of Europe which were nearer to the em- 
peror's residence. But Diocletian and Maximian ab- 
dicated the throne in A. D. 305, two years after the 
persecution commenced, and Constantius became em- 
peror, having still under his immediate care the pro- 
vinces of Britain and Gaul. " Happy were the people 
who enjoyed the benefit of his rule, unrestrained by 
any superior authority," are the words of the last writer, 
who has treated this subject at some length. " The 



A.D. 303 — 313.] UNCERTAINTY OF THE LEGEND. 270 

Christians, in particular, had occasion to rejoice under 
his administration. They possessed his confidence and 
protection: persecution was altogether extinguished \" 
There is little doubt that Constantius, from his well- 
known character for political prudence, tempered with 
humanity, — for men often act from mixed motives, — 
not only when he became emperor in 305, but dm*ing 
the whole time that he filled the office of Caesar, did 
not enter into the spirit of persecution which charac- 
terized the last days of Diocletian and Maximian. 

Three years after the edict of persecution was pro- 
mulgated, Constantine, the son of Constantius, suc- 
ceeded, by his father's death, to the imperial purple : 
and as he at a later period of life adopted the Christian 
religion, it is unlikely that he ever violently persecuted 
those who professed it. Thus it appears, that, during 
the whole ten years of its duration, Britain was singu- 
larly favoured by being under the government of a 
father and son, whose whole character was alien from 
a persecuting bias, whose power was competent to 
protect their subjects, and whose ambitious views, 
already directed towards sole empire, were very un- 
likely to lead them to create discontent, or to estrange 
from them so large a mass of supporters as the Chris- 
tians. 

If this view of the case is correct, it creates a 
difficulty in the history of 8t. Alban, which can 
scarcely be removed. But other doubts arise from 
the gradual increase which the legend has received in 
difl'erent ages. The narrative, just quoted in the words 
of Venerable Bede, is an amplification of the story 
told by Gildas, and gives a dramatic efiect to what was 
originally very short and concise. Neither of these 

' 'J'liackciay, vol. i. p 255. 



280 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVI. 

writers tells us the name of the clergyman who found 
refuge in Alban's house, but we learn from writers 
who lived some hundreds of years later, that he was 
called Amphibalus; and Thomas Rudborne, in his 
" Major Historia," compiled about A.D. 1400, adds, 
" that not long after the passion of Saint Alban, Saint 
Ampbibalus, with nine of his companions, was mar- 
tyred at the town of Redburn, three miles from the 
city of Saint Alban's !" Time, it may be acknowledged, 
produces marvellous changes ; but it cannot revive 
the knowledge of that, which no contemporary has 
recorded ; and whilst the pen has misrepresented 
many facts, and hundreds of its records have perished 
by carelessness, barbarism, or old age, we never can 
hope to recal that which the labours of the pen have 
never consigned to memory. 

In this concurrence of suspicious circumstances, if 
it is safe to hazard an opinion, we may suggest, that 
the fact of St. Alban's sentence, passed upon him for 
concealing some person obnoxious for his religion, is 
all that we know for certain about him ; that Britain 
and Gaul, at that time governed by a mild and bene- 
volent emperor, were not exposed to the same violence 
of persecution as the rest of Europe ; that instances of 
death for the sole cause of religion must have been 
rare in this island j that persecution may have been 
carried on here in individual places, and by local 
magistrates, without the force or authority of the court; 
and that those writers, who have described its horrors, 
have drawn their narrative rather from the afflicted 
state of the continent of Europe, than from what 
happened in the island of Britain itself. 

If this view should be thought consistent with 
reason or probability, it derives confirmation from 



A.D. 313.] EDICT OF PERSECUTION RECALLED. 281 

Bede's account of the sudden change produced by 
the revocation of the persecuting edict, appUcable 
without a doubt to the empire in general, but hardly 
reconcileable with the fact, that Constantine, the first 
royal convert, was at that time reigning in Britain ^ 

" When the storm of persecution ceased, the faithful 
Christians, who, during the time of danger, had hidden 
themselves in woods and deserts and secret caves, 
appearing in public, rebuilt the churches which had 
been levelled with the ground; founded, erected, and 
finished the temples of the holy martyrs, and, as it 
were, displayed their conquering ensigns in all places : 
they celebrated festivals, and performed their sacred 
rites with clean hearts and mouths. This peace con- 
tinued in the churches of Britain until the time of the 
Ai'ian madness, which, having corrupted the whole 
world, infected this island also with the poison of its 
errors ; and when the plague was thus conveyed across 
the sea, all the venoms of every heresy immediately 
rushed into the island, ever fond of something new, 
and never holding firm to any things." 

' This view of the case is confirmed by Gibbon. " The mild and 
humane temper of Constantius was averse to the oppression of any 
part of his subjects. The principal offices of his palace were exercised 
by Christians. He loved their persons, esteemed their fidelity, and 
entertained not any dislike to their religious principles. But as long 
as Constantius remained in the subordinate station of Ceesar, it was 
not in his power openly to reject the edicts of Diocletian, or to 
disobey the commar.d of Maximian. His authority contributed, 
however, to alleviate the su/ferings which he pitied and abhorred. 
He consented with reluctance to the ruin of the churches; but he 
ventured to protect the Christians themselves from the fury of the 
populace, and from the rigour of the laws. The i)rovinccs of Gaul 
(under which we may probably uicludc those of Britain) were 
indebted for the singular tranquillity which they enjoyed, to the 
gentle interposition of iheir sovereign." Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire, rbap. xi. « B vAv, V.vr) Mi-i 1., i <• W 



CHAP. XVII. 

KESIGNATION OF BIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN, A.D. 305 — GALERIUS 
AND CONSTANTIDS EMPERORS — CONSTANTIUS IN BRITAIN — CONSTAN- 
TINE ESCAPES TO HIS FATHER CONSTANTIUS — CONSTANTINE THE 
GREAT DEFEATS MAXENTIUS, AND BECOMES SOLE EMPEROR — SYNODS 
OF ARLES AND NICE. 



In the year 305, Diocletian and Maximian astonished 
the world, by renouncing the dignity and rank for which 
so many candidates had sacrificed their lives, and 
retired to enjoy in a private station that peace of mind, 
or at least that personal quiet, which never is the lot 
of a reigning prince. When the intelligence of this 
event reached Constantius, he had been nine years * in 
Britain : and the popularity which he had gained was 
now probably his greatest safeguard against the effects 
of that jealousy, which often arose between those who 
succeeded to the imperial dignity. Galerius, who had 
enjoyed with Constantius the title of Caesar, was now 
advanced to the higher rank of Augustus ; and, if the 
same title was conferred on Constantius, we may 
suspect that Galerius, though in possession of the 
central provinces, did not think it safe or prudent to 
deny this honour to one, who was the favourite com- 
mander of the western portion of the empire. But 
Galerius fancied that he possessed a hostage for the 
good conduct of Constantius, in the person of his son 

' From A.D. 296 to 305. 



A.D. 305.] CONSTANTINE, SON OF CONSTANTIUS. 283 

Constantine, who, instead of following his father into 
Gaul, had remained in the service of Diocletian, where 
he had distinguished himself hy his military abilities, 
and gradually risen to the rank of a tribune of the first 
order. 

This young man, now twenty-two years old, was the 
son of Constantius by Helena, concerning whom we 
have less authentic information than of any other 
female who has arrived at the imperial dignity, and 
been so celebrated by historians. " The offspring of 
an obscure marriage," are the words of the historian 
Eutropius ^ : " The son of Constantius, by his con- 
cubine Helen," is the more derogatory account of his 
birth given by Orosius " : but whatever may have been 
the family, or station in life, which Helena first 
enjoyed '^, we may vindicate the legitimacy of her son 
by the divorce of his mother, which was enforced by 
Diocletian, that Constantius might contract a second 
marriage with Theodora. 

By the elevation of Galerius and Constantius, a 
vacancy occurred in the office of Ceesar, which had 
now become established in the constitution of the 
empire, and was indeed, from the great extent of 
territory, almost necessary to its defence from the 
barbarians who assailed it. Public rumour pointed 
out Constantine as the most deserving candidate ; and 
this fame aggravated the jealousy and confirmed the 
hostility of Galerius. " The figure of Constantine was 
tall and majestic; he was dextrous in all his exercises, 
intrepid in war, affable in peace; in his whole conduct, 

" Hist. X. 1. 

" Oros. vii. 25. Sec also Zosiinus ii. 8. 

■^ It is unnecessary to refute the absurd story, that Helena was of 
British birth, and the daughter of king Coillus. 



284 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

the active spirit of youth was tempered by habitual 
prudence; and while his mind was engrossed by 
ambition, he appeared cold and insensible to the 
allurements of pleasure. The favour of the people 
and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy can- 
didate for the rank of Csesar, served only to exasperate 
the jealousy of Galerius ; and though prudence might 
restrain him from exercising any open violence, an 
absolute monarch is seldom at a loss how to execute 
a sure and secret revenge. Every hour increased the 
danger of Constantine, and the anxiety of his father, 
who, by repeated letters, expressed the warmest desire 
of embracing his son. For some time the policy of 
Galerius supplied him with delays and excuses, but it 
was impossible long to refuse so natural a request of 
his associate, without maintaining* his refusal by arms. 
The permission *" of the journey was reluctantly granted, 
and whatever precautions the emperor might have 
taken to intercept a return, the consequences of which 
he, with so much reason, apprehended, they were 
effectually disappointed by the incredible diligence of 
Constantine ^ Leaving the palace of Nicomedia in 

* Aurel. Victor [de Ca3S. 40.] describes the flight of Constantine 
as resulting from the indignation which he felt, because Severus and 
Maximian had been preferred to himself for the office of Caesar. 
Truth mostly lies in the middle, between two different stories, and 
often derives many of its features from both. 

^ Zosimus ii. 8. Lactant. de Morte Persec. 24. The foi-me]- of 
these writers tells us the mode by which Constantine baffled pursuit. 
" Fearing lest he should be overtaken in his flight, (for his ambition 
of reigning was already manifest to many,) he maimed and rendered 
useless all the post-horses at each station he arrived at, and so pre- 
vented his pursuers from following him. In the mean time he 
arrived among the tribes where his father was." Gibbon calls this, 
"■■ a foolish story," and adds, that " such a bloody execution, without 



A.D. 300.] CONSTANTINE ESCAPES TO BRITAIN. 285 

the night, he travelled post through Bithynia, Thrace, 
Dacia, Pannonia, Italy, and Gaul ; and, amidst the 
joyful acclamations of the people, reached the port of 
Boulogne, in the very moment when his father was 
preparing to embark for Britain^." 

The presence of the son was no doubt a source of 
consolation to Constantius in the administration of his 
government; but we cannot admit the assertion of 
those, who have described Constantino as attached, by 
the tie of birth, to the island, with which his name has 
been so much connected''. There can be little doubt 
that he now, in the year 306, passed into Britain for the 
first time ; and the popularity, which he gained among 
the natives and inhabitants of the island, resulted from 
the talents and virtues which he displayed, during the 

preventing a pursuit, would have scattered suspicions, and might have 
stopped his journey :" but to some readers the story may appear far 
from improbable. The historian may possibly have exaggerated it ; 
for, if Coiistantine practised such an expedient at two or three of the 
most retired post-stations in the country, it would have been quite 
sufficient to stop every one who might pursue him. The story is 
confirmed by Anonymus Valesii, Q). 609.]] " transiens summa festi- 
natione veredis post so iruncatis." 

*-' Gibbon, Dec. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. chap. xiv. Eumen. Pan. 
Const. Aug. A.D. 310, c. 7, 8. Aurel. Victor. Epit. 41. Zosimus ii. 8. 
Euseb. de v. Const, i. 21. Lactant. de M. P. 24. 

'' The expression " illic oriendo" of the anonymous panegyrist, 
QPaneg. Max. et Con. d. A.D. 307, c. 4.] describes the rise of the 
fortune of Constantius, rather than the place of his birth. Neimius, 
or one of the later writers who have so largely interpolated the 
original text of Nennius, erroneously describes Constantius as ' the 
sou,' instead of ' the father,' of Consiantine the Great. [Nenu. Hist. 
Brit. §. 21.] Venerable Bedo [Hist. Eccles. i. 8.] calls ' Con stantine 
filium ex conciibina Helena creatum.' Richard of Cirencester's 
words are more decisive, * Conslantii ex Britannica Helena lilium:' 
but the authority of so recent a writer, unsupported by a singb; 
anrienl bistoiian, is itf little weight to decide siieh a question. 



286 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

short time that he assisted his father in the cares of 
government. 

It was, in fact, now absolutely necessary that Con- 
stantius should have the advice and assistance of his 
son. " His health was beginning to decline, and he 
died within fifteen months after his accession to the 
empire. A contingency, so apt for the purposes of 
rhetoric, was not lost upon the panegyrist Eumenius, 
who a short time afterwards addressed Constantine on 
the crisis to which this meeting of father and son had 
brought his fortunes : 

" You were already summoned to the empire by the 
lot of Heaven, when your sudden arrival shone like a 
light upon your father, as he was crossing over into 
Britain. . . . Good God! what happiness did you give 
to the pious Constantius, when he was on the point of 
leaving this world! That emperor, when about to 
make his passage to heaven, caught a sight of him who 
was to be his heir." 

The meeting between Constantius and his son' was 
speedily followed by their departure for Britain, where 
a military expedition against the native tribes of the 
north was in preparation. This was not the first expe- 
dition that Constantius directed against the brave 
natives of Caledonia^ but it does not appear that he 
attempted to make a perfect conquest, or to annex 
those indomitable mountaineers to the now overgrown 
Roman empire. It was perhaps from the same prin- 
ciples of prudence and moderation, that he declined to 

■ " Eusebius tells us, that the sick father leaped from his bed to 
embrace his son, and returned thanks to God that he had been spared 
to behold him." Thackeray, Res. &c. vol. i. p, 258. Philostorgius, 
lib. i. c. 5. Anouymus Valesii, 

'' Eumen. c. 7, 



A.D. 30(3.] CONSTANTIUS DIES AT YORK. 287 

interfere in the affairs of Ireland; though the inha- 
bitants of that island, induced probably by the prospect 
of greater happiness under a civilized government, 
offered to pay him tribute \ 

On the 25th of July, 306, the virtuous Constantius 
died at York, thirteen years after he was first made 
Caesar, though his reign as Augustus had been so 
brief. His body was hardly cold, before the impatient 
army, grateful for his mild administration, or hopeful 
of its continuance from the prepossessions which they 
had already formed in favour of his son, turned their 
eyes towards Constantine, as the proper person to 
succeed to the vacant dignity: and though the young 
man, in sincerity, from modesty or affectation, referred 
the election of an emperor to the older and more 
experienced of those about him, his objections were 
overruled, and the acclamations of all saluted him as 
emperor"'. '•' Thus their deliberate judgment," as we 
read it in the oration of Eumenius, " only pronounced 
the same decision which the favour of the soldiery had 
anticipated: as soon as you appeared among them, 
they, with a laudable preference of the public good, 
and setting aside your own private feelings, clothed 
you in the purple, notwithstanding your tears, notwith- 
standing your attempt, invincible Cassar, to escape, as 
it is said, out of their hands, by spurring your horse 
to speed! . . . O happy Britain, happier than all lands, 
in having first set eyes upon the Caesar Constantine! 

' This fact is (bund in Richard of" Cirencester, and it receives an 
apparent confirmation from the words of Eumenius, c. 7. 

■" Eutropius X. 1, 2. Anon, de Const. Chloro. Orosius, vii. 28. 
Euseh. Chron. Aurel, Vict, dc Ca3S. 40. Socrates Scholasticus says, 
that Constantius died the 25tli of July, in the first year of the 271st 
Olympiad, Hisl. Reel. i. 2. 



288 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BEITONS. [CH. XVII. 

Well hath nature blessed thee with every advantage 
both of climate and of soil, for in thee is neither 
extreme severity of winter, nor excess of heat; and so 
great is the fertility of thy fields, that they suffice both 
for corn and wine^ thy woods contain no noxious 
beasts; no venomed serpents creep upon thy soil; but 
gentle flocks of innumerable sheep, with udders full of 
milk, and backs thick with fleeces: and, to add to the 
delights of life, the days are long, and night is never 
wholly without some light; whilst thy level shores cast 
no shades, and the face of heaven and of the stars 
escapes from the prison of darkness; so that the sun, 
which with us seems to set, appears there only to go 
round thee. . . . Good heavens ! whence comes it, that 
ever from some distant corner of the world new deities 
descend on earth to govern us, and to receive the 
worship of mankind!" 

But the happiness of this consummation, in which 
the orator rejoices so eloquently, was still in suspense, 
notwithstanding the choice of the armies of the West, 
and a less prudent aspirant to imperial power, might 
still have failed to secure his object. A hasty assump- 
tion of the offered dignity might lead to an appeal to 
arms, a settlement as uncertain as the smiles or frowns 
of fortune are capricious. Constantine probably felt 
that this was his position, when he chose rather to 
mitigate the anger of Galerius by modesty and mode- 
ration, than to provoke it by arrogance. A messenger 
departed for Nicomedia, to inform Galerius of the 
wishes of the army to which Constantine had assented 
only from necessity : unable from the distance to con- 
sult the emperor, he had done his best by consenting, 
though reluctantly, in the impatient decision of his 
men: which he prayed Galerius to ratify. This mes- 



A.D. 306.] CONSTANTINE EMPEROR IN BRITAIN. 289 

sas^e produced the effect which liad been foreseen. 
Galerius, incensed at what had happened, but unable 
to prevent or redress the insubordination of the soldiers 
of the West, was mollified by the apparent humility of 
Constantine, and returned an answer bestowing upon 
him the title of Csesar, whilst he reserved the higher 
rank of Augustus for his favourite Severus. 

In this manner, without the grace of friendship, yet 
free from the calamities of war, the Roman emperors 
continued to govern their respective provinces; which 
were already, by this separate mode of administr.ition, 
preparing the way for the future dismemberment of 
the empire, and the formation of the states into which 
Europe is now divided. Six years passed away without 
the occurrence of any event which may arrest the pen 
of the historian of Britain. What then followed rather 
draws oflF attention from this island, than illustrates its 
history or its condition : yet it requires a passing 
notice, because institutions, which still exist, and pre- 
serve an imposing attitude in the social system, were 
then chiefly brought to maturity, and received the 
form which they have ever since maintained. 

The year 310 saw the unusual number of six 
emperors at once ruling the same state, each unable 
to dispute the claims of his associates, yet entertaining 
animosity against them all. The infatuated Maximian, 
the ancient colleague of Diocletian, hearing that his 
son Maxentius had assumed the purple in Italy, started 
from his retiiement, and again mixed in the politics of 
the day. Maxentius, supported by the fame of so 
great a name, maintained himself in Italy until the 
latter end of A.D. 312, when the Roman citizens, 
groaning under his oppression, appealed to Constantine 
u 



290 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII, 

to relieve them from his tyranny ^ This summons, so 
gratifying- to an ambitious yet prudent prince, was not 
neglected by Constantine ; he passed the Alps, as soon 
as the season admitted, and appeared on the plains of 
Italy with an army" composed of Gauls, Germans, and 
Britons, in number about forty thousand men, which 
he retained about him, after he had placed garrisons to 
the amount of nearly sixty thousand more, in the dif- 
ferent cities and fortresses which he passed. In a short 
time, the army, thus reduced, encountered the host of 
Maxentius, which was three or four times more nu- 
merous. The other emperors, Maximin and Licinius, 
on whom the provinces of the East had devolved, looked 
with anxiety on a contest, which would remove one, and 
might remove both of their rivals. But we may believe 
that Constantine possessed an incalculable advantage 
over his opponent in the well-known affection of his 
troops, and zeal in the service of their leader. On the 
other hand, Maxentius could not count on the fidelity 
of his troops, or on the affections of the people, who 
had long heard of the favour which Constantine enjoyed 
among his subjects beyond the Alps. From whatever 
cause, the army of Maxentius was defeated; and by the 
death of their leader, Constantine was enabled to enter 
Rome in triumph. About the same time Maximin 

° Yet one of the first acts of Maxentius, according to Eusebius, 
[Hist. Eccl. viii. 14.] was to relax the persecaliou of the Christians, 
which had been begun by Diocletian and Maximian in 303, and 
was still raging. It would not be difficult to shew, that some of the 
worst of the Roman emperors favoured the Christians, whilst some 
of the most virtuous persecuted them : but no argument can be drawn 
from this fact, either favourable or inimical to the religion, to its 
establishment, character, or doctrines. 

° Zosimus, ii. 15. 



A.D. 314.] UONSTANTINE SOLE EMPEROR. '29\ 

was removed irom the world, and thus the empire 
rested with Constantine and Licinius for a few short 
years, until the jealousy of empire impelling the latter 
to use any means, whether of fraud or force, that might 
free him from his colleague, he was haffled and defeated 
in all his attempts, and at last expiated with life his 
inability to continue faithfid to his engagements. 

The sovereignty of Europe was then again lodged 
in the hands of a single emperor, and this happened at 
a time when a new element was mingling in the form- 
ation of social life and manners, which required that the 
governor of such large dominions should no longer 
remain passive to its existence. We cannot believe 
that the Christian doctrines could have spread over the 
whole of Europe, without attracting the notice of the 
emperor and his court. It is equally difficult to con- 
ceive that a religion, which began among the humble 
classes of society, could have speedily numbered kings 
and princes among its converts. We may admit that 
the earlier tyrants of the family of the Cfesars con- 
ceived the thought of including Christ among the 
deities of the Roman empire; but we may with equal 
justice set aside tlie pious supposition of Eusebius^, 
that the emperor Philip was in heart a Christian. It 
is an unhappy truth, that sovereigns and their courts 
are ever backward to listen to the pleadings of religion, 
or its lessons of piety; nor will it be taken as an atone- 
ment for their deafness, that from motives of pi'udence 
and good policy, they often shew flavour to the cause 
from which indifference leads them to withhold the 
sanction of their name. 

But when Constantine reigned as emperor in Gaul, 
his acute perception failed not to discover, that the 

(^ Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 

u 2 



292 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

Christians were become formidable in numbers, and 
respectable from the station of some of their members. 
Need it be suggested, that during the persecution, to 
which they were exposed by the commands of Diocle- 
tian, he had opportunity of discerning virtues which 
called forth his admiration ? The fortitude displayed 
by the Christians exceeded any thing which the pagans 
could conceive : he who worshipped Jupiter and a 
thousand minor deities, could not deny that the gods 
of almost all foreign superstitions were equally 
deserving of the adoration of mankind ; but the 
Christian destroyed all other creeds, to put the faith 
of Christ alone in their empty shrines : and as the 
faith of Christ is more minutely and subtilely inter- 
woven with all the feelings of the human heart, the 
effect of their action in enabling them to bear pain and 
torment, was a cause of reasonable astonishment to the 
pagans around them. This circumstance is likely to 
have produced its effect on the mind of Constantino, 
who would soon perceive how necessary, how wise, it 
would be to have regard to so large a portion of his 
subjects. Whilst his government was limited to Gaul 
and Britain, he had given no indication of the extra- 
ordinary step which he afterwards took. But when 
Galerius, in 311, had revoked the edict of persecution, 
first promulgated by Diocletian, the impetus given to 
the propagation of the Christian tenets seems to have 
rapidly accelerated the course of events. " When the 
storm of persecution ceased" — we again quote the words 
of Venerable Bede "^ — " the faithful followers of Christ 
came forth from the woods and deserts and hidden 
caves, where in the time of danger they had concealed 
themselves : they rebuilt the churches which had been 

•J Bed. Hist. Eccles. i. 8. 



A.D. 314 337.] CONSTANTINE's CONVERSION. 293 

levelled to the ground, erected basilicas in honour of 
the lioly martyrs, and every where hoisted their vic- 
torious ensigns. This peace remained in the churches 
of Christ, which were in Britain, until the time of the 
Arian heresy." 

After the defeat and death of Maxentius, the emperor 
Constantine still further extended his favour towards 
those who bore the Christian name, but it was not till 
a much later period that he declared Christianity to be 
the religion of the empire ; nor did he, until he lay on 
his death-bed, claim in his own person the administra- 
tion of that rite, which was supposed to cleanse him 
from all his sins, and send him, in the original purity of 
maf^i an accepted applicant for admission into the 
heavenly kingdom. Yet, in spite of this fact, eccle- 
siastical hardihood has recorded, that the Divine power 
was put forth to alter or contravene the laws of nature, 
and to work miracles in favour of Constantine. Naza- 
rius, who wrote nine years after the defeat of Max- 
entius ', relates, that a host of divine warriors, clad in 
armour of incomparable brilliancy, and of surpassing 
beauty, descended from heaven to aid the cause of 
Constantine against his foe. Seventeen years later, 
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea', records, that the em- 
peror, in one of his marches, saw in the heavens a 
luminous cross, placed over the sun, and inscribed 
with the words, "By this thou shalt conquer!" 
At this sight he and all his army were astonished; 
and could not comprehend the 'nature or meaning of 
the apparition. But in the ensuing night Christ ap- 
peared before him, and, displaying the same cross, 
directed that a similar one should be constructed, 

' A.D. 321. Nazar. inter Paneg. Vutt. x. 14, 15. 
' Euseb. in Vita Con. i. 28, 29, 30. 



294 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

under which, as a banner, his army should march 
against Maxentiiis. In confirmation of this stoiy, 
Eusebius alleges the authority of Constantine himself, 
who, many years after, in the familiarity of conversation, 
informed him of this extraordinary occurrence, and 
asserted upon oath that it was true. But when the 
good bishop consigned to writing this romantic legend, 
the emperor, by whose word of mouth his veracity 
might have been ascertained, was already removed 
from the world, and it was no longer possible for a 
caviller to dispute so beautiful a story, told of so pious 
a prince, by a bishop of such learning and respecta- 
bility ^ 

It must, however, be inferred, either that the emperor 
Constantine wished to impose a falsehood on the 
world, or that his gradual conversion to Christianity 
was the effect solely of his prudential care of his own 
interests. Man is often unable to make an exact 
discrimination between the mixed motives of his 
actions. " In an age of religious fervour, the most 
artful statesmen are observed to feel some part of the 
enthusiasm which they inspire, and tlie most orthodox 
saints assume the dangerous privilege of defending the 
cause of truth, by the arms of deceit and falsehood "." 
A word spoken hypothetically by a prince, will be 
expanded when retailed by his courtiers; and the most 



' It is hardly necessary to point out to the critical reader, that the 
miracles of Nazarius and of Eusebius can hardly both be true. It 
is not to be supposed, that the Almighty would make an unnecessary 
display of his power, in order to ensure the victory to Constantine, — 
a point which his Omnipotence could eifect by simply directing the 
existing laws of nature. It may there foi'e be safely inferred, that 
both these miracles ai'e false. 
" Gibbon, ch. xx. 



A.D. 314.] SYNOD OF ARLES. 295 

extraordinary narratives have, when traced to their 
source, been found to rest on a singularly small basis, 
not exceeding the usual laws and course of nature. 

After the conquest of Italy, the first Cliristian 
emperor reigned with comparative ease twenty-six 
years over the vast dominions which owned him for 
their master. The vigour and security of his sceptre 
are attested by the long cessation from war between 
the Northern Britons of the Roman province and their 
restless neighbours of Caledonia : for those free tribes 
seldom heard that the continental dominions of Rome 
were assailed by her enemies, without rising in arms 
to expel the legions from the island, or harass them by 
incursions. Britain now enjoyed a calm of upwards of 
thii'ty years, and only occurs to our notice in the year 
314, when Constantine summoned at Aries the first 
ecclesiastical synod which had been held by the public 
authority since the institution of the Christian re- 
ligion. The object, for which this council met, was to 
compose the dissension which had arisen in Africa, 
and caused so much scandal and reproach to the 
church in that country, between the rival bishops 
Csecilian and Majorinus. This dispute, probably from 
Donatus bishop ( f Casse Nigrae, who took a leading- 
part in it, has received the name of tlie Schism of the 
Donatists. After many vain attempts to reconcile the 
parties, and to heal the schism, a large council was 
summoned by order of the emperor to meet at Aries, 
a metropolitan city in the south of Gaul. To each of 
the bishops thus summoned was delivered a warrant 
from the emperor, requiring the civil authorities to 
provide them with all necessaries by the way, and at 
the stations where they should halt on their journey ; 
but, as by far the greater part of them came from the 



296 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

neighbouring provinces of Gaul, it is not likely that 
the public revenue was much straitened by the ex- 
penses of the synod. A letter is still extant" from 
Constantine, addressed to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse, 
and it is probable that a similar missive was dispatched 
to the several ecclesiastics who were summoned to 
appear. A list of those who obeyed the summons has 
also been preserved''; by which it appears, that Britain 
sent emissaries to take their place among the other 
bishops and ecclesiastics, by whom the church was 
then governed. It may gratify the upholders of the 
true apostolical succession to find, that the distinction 
between the three orders of the clergy is prominent in 
this catalogue; but it reflects no favourable view of the 
intellect of the fourth century, that the name of ex- 
orcist, an officer whose duties are too well expressed by 
his title, occurs almost as often in that document as 
those of bishop, priest, or deacon. 

It would be interesting to a native of Britain to read 
a more detailed account of the bishops which went 
from this island to attend the mandate of the emperor : 
but, besides that many errors may have crept into 
the catalogue before alluded to, its very meagreness 
renders it impossible to derive any information from it 
concerning the church of Britain at that early date. 

The names of the bishops and their clergy, who 
came from Britain to attend the Synod of Aries, are 
these; " Eborius, bishop, from the city of York, in the 
province of Britain : Restitutus, bishop, from the city 
of London, in the province aforesaid: Adelfius, bishop, 
from the city of ' Colonia Londinensium :' then Sacer- 
dos, the presbyter; Arminius, the deacon." 

' Euseb. in Vita Const, x. 5. 

f Labbei Concilia, torn. i. col. 1429. 



A.D. 325.] COUNCIL OF NICE. 297 

Concerning the last of the three cities named in 
this list, there has long been a dispute among anti- 
quarians : but, whether the colony of London, of Lin- 
coln, Camalodunum, or Caerleon', be the true reading, 
it has been inferred, that there was in Britain a larger 
number of bishops than three ; for it would be hardly 
probable, that all its prelates would leave it at the 
same time to attend a foreign council. 

A few years after the synod of Aries, the Christian 
world was again thrown into confusion by the progress 
which the Arian heresy was making through all 
Europe. To meet the evil, the famous council of 
Nice was held in the year of our Lord 325, but we 
find nothing about Britain in the records of its pro- 
ceedings which have come down to us. Eusebius only 
observes, that its canons were received every where in 
Gaul, Egypt, Spain, Africa, Libya, and Britain ; and 
it has been inferred from those words, that bishops 
from Britain attended at the council. 

The reign of Constantine was drawing to a close. 
He died in 332, leaving his vast empire to his three 
sons, Constantine II. Constantius, and Constans. Of 
the character of this great man, the best account has 
perhaps been given by Eutropius '. " He was a man 
in the beginning of his reign worthy of comparison 
with the best of princes, but in the latter part of it not 

' The text of the MSS. is Colonia Londiiiensis, supposed to be 
ail error, for the city of London occurs second on the list. It is not 
likely that there were two bishops frouj that city, unless it be argued, 
that the dioceses of those times were beyond all comparison smaller 
than those which exist at present. Spelman and Selden read Cama- 
lodunum ; Dr. Henry, Gale, and Bingham propose Colonia Lindum, 
or Lincoln. Usher reads Colchester, and Stillingfleet gives the pre- 
ference to Colonia Leg. ii. pr Caerleon upon Usk. 

" Eutropius, X. 7. 



298 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

superior to ordinary ones. He possessed innumerable 
excellencies, both of mind and body : eager to obtain 
military glory, and much favoured in his wars by 
fortune, he equalled his good fortune by his activity ; 
for, when the civil wars were ended, he twice overthrew 
the Gauls, and having made peace with them, impressed 
their minds with the lasting memory of his kindness. 
He was devoted to the peaceful arts and liberal studies, 
and was desirous of obtaining the just love of his sub- 
jects, which he indeed secured by his bounty and 
gentleness. Singular in his behaviour towards some 
of his friends, he was most bountiful towards the 
others, and never let slip an opportunity of serving 
them." The whole empire acquired, by his long and 
able government of thirty-two years, a stabihty which 
remained in his own family until the death of Julian, 
surnamed the Apostate, a period of nearly seventy 
years since the fortunes of his house rose with Con- 
stantius, whew he recovered Britain from Ailectus^ 



'' " As Coustantine made some alterations in the plan of the 
Roman empire, it may not be amiss here briefly to observe in what 
manner Britain was governed mider him and his successors. He 
appointed four praefects of the Prsetorium, viz. in the East, Illyricum, 
Italy, and Gaul, and two masters of the soldiers, one of the infantry, 
the other of the cavalry in the West, whom he called Prsesentiales. 

" The civil government of Britain was in the hands of the prsefect of 
the prsetorium in Gaul, under whom was the vicar of Britain, who 
supplied his place, and was distinguished with the title of Spectabilis, 
[Respectable, Ammian. Marc. xxi. 13.] He had under him, 
according to the number of the provinces, two consular officers and 
three presidents, who determined civil and criminal causes. 

" The command in military matters was lodged with the master of 
the infantry of the West, under whom were the Comes Britanniarum, 
the Comes littoris Saxoriici throughout Britain, the Dux Britan- 
niarum; all styled Spectabilis [Respectable]. 

" The Comes Britanniarum seems to have commanded in the 



NOTE. 299 

interior parts of the island, with seven numeri of foot, and nine vexil- 
lations of horse. 

" The Comes littoris Saxonici, who was to defend the coast against 
ihe Saxons, and is called by Ammianus, Comes tractus maritimi, 
liad for the defence of the sea-coast seven nuraeri of foot, two vexil- 
lalions of horse, the second legion, and one cohort. 

" The Dux Britanniarum, who guarded the frontiers against the 
barbarians, had the command of 37 garrisons, in which were stationed 
14,000 foot, and 900 horse. So that in that age, if Pancirolus be 
right in his calculations, Britain imist have statedly maintained 
99,000 foot, and 1700 horse. 

" Besides these, the Comes Sacrarum largitionum, who took care 
of the emperor's donatives and laigesses, had under him in Britain 
rationalis summarum Britannice, an accountant-general for Britain ; 
Prcepositus thesaurorum Augustenshmi, a president of the imperial 
treasury in Britain, and a procurator Gynsecii, president of the 
wardrobe in Britain, in which the emperor's and soldiers' clothes 
were woven. The count had also Comes rerum 'privatarum, private 
accomptant for his own revenues in Britain; not to mention the 
Procurator ludi Gladiatorii, or master of all the fencing-schools in 
Britahi, mentioned in an ancient inscription ; and other officers of 
inferior rank." 

The Notitia imperii &c. a most valuable relic of antiquity, is the 
principal source from which our information is obtained concerning 
the distribution and civil government of the provinces in the Roman 
empire. 

In the Theodosian Code [xi. 7, 2.] is a rescript of the emperor 
Constantino, dated Nov. 20, 319, and addressed to Pacatian, Vicar, 
or, as we might more appropriately render it. Viceroy, of Britain. It 
appears from this and other facts, as well as from the probability of 
the case, that Britain was governed according to the same system 
which prevailed elsewhere : the extract above quoted will probably be 
sufficient for the general reader; more especially as it would be unsafe 
to follow modem writers, and perhaps Pancirolus also, in all the 
particulars with which they have endeavoured to fill out the general 
outline. That learned and industrious antiquary, Richard Gough, 
seems to have entertained the same sentiments, when he attached the 
following note to the extract from Camden above qtiotcd. 

" Camden seems to have taken his accounts chiefly from the 
Notitia, and Pancirnlus's Annotations on it. Burton (Anton, p. 24.) 
says, Pancirolu.s has followed Camden; not considering lliai I'anci- 



300 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVII. 

rolus was the first writer, and is even quoted by Camden himself. 
In the Notitia Imperii Occidentalis under the proconsul of Africa 
are placed six Vicarii, one of whom is the Vicarius Britanniarum. 
Socrates uses the word BtKaptos, and Ammianus Marcellinus Vicarius, 
for the principal officer in Britain. Martinus, agens \_f. regens] 
illas provincias pro prsefecto," and afterwards the same person is 
called Vicarius, xiv. 5. as is Alypius, xxix. 2. In the same chapter 
of the Notitia T find several other principal officers mentioned in 
Britain. Thus among the comites we have comes Britanniarum, 
comes littoris Saxonici, per Britannias. In another place, comes 
Britannia, which is probably the same with comes Britanniarum; 
for the singular and plural of this, as well as some other names of 
places, were used promiscuously by the Romans. Among the dukes 
we have dux Britannice, and Britanniarum. Among the consulares, 
per Britannias duo, maximce Ctssariensis et Valentice: among the 
presides, per Britannias ires, Britannite et Flavim Ccesariensis. 
There is a passage in Aurelius Victor, which intimates that some 
alteration was made in the form of government by Constanliue : 
" Officia publica et Palatina, primes, Britannise - secundse, necnon 
militum in earn formam siatuisse Hadrianum quae paucis per Con- 
stantium immutatis hodie perseverat." Dodwell observes out of 
Lactantius, de morte perseq., that Diocletian introduced a new dis- 
position, which plainly occasioned the four prcefecti prtetorio, an- 
swering to the two emperors and two Caesars, and respectively next 
to them in dignity. There seems to have been no propraetor or 
imperial legate here after Gordian, and during the several usurpations 
the tyrants had their own preefectus preetorio. Not very long after 
this a crowd of new officers was introduced, whose names have a 
barbarous sound. Horsley, 71, 72. comp. with 480." Gough's 
Camden, vol. i. p. civ. 



CHAP. XVIII. 



SONS OF CONSTANTINE THE ©BEAT, CONSTANTINE H, CONSTANS, AND 
CONSTANTIUS — COUNCILS OF NICE AND SARDICA — REBELLION AND 
DEFEAT OF MAGNENTIUS A BRITON — PAULUS CATENA IN BRITAIN — 
JULIAN IN GAUL — LUPICINUS. 



The year 337 is marked by the death of Constan- 
tine, and the accession of his three sons, Constuntine 
II, Constantius, and Constans, to the throne of the 
empire. The sons of so great a monarch seldom enjoy 
that stable prosperity which might be thought to have 
resulted from the labours and successes of the deceased. 
When all enemies have been vanquished in the field, 
and nothing remains to dispute their possession of all 
that this earth can furnish, the real trials of youthful 
sovereigns may be said to begin. Flattery assails 
them from their courtiers, and often the headstrong 
passions of their own unrestrained nature hurry them, 
of their own accord, into evils more fatal than any 
which the open hostility of rivals can produce. Am- 
bition to reign alone has too often severed the affec- 
tions of brothers: and Constantine, the eldest of the 
three emperors, soon finding that the portion of their 
father's dominions, wliich fell to his share, Gaul, 
Britain, Spain, and part of Germany, was too little to 
satisfy him, took up arms to expel his brothers from 
their portions of the empire. A hasty invasion of the 



302 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVIII. 

dominions of his brother Constans ended in his being 
defeated, and slain near Aquileia, in the early part of 
the year 340. 

Constans, without consulting his surviving brother, 
annexed the provinces of Constantine to his own 
dominions: and thereby sowed the seeds of a discord 
between himself and Constantius, which, before the 
lapse of many years, was cut short by his own murder ^ 

The reign of Constantius and Constans is celebrated 
as favourable to the Christians, who at length, safe 
from persecution, emerging from the subordinate im- 
portance which they had before enjoyed in the empire, 
already begin to threaten the pagans with reprisals. 
" Strip off, strip off fearlessly, most religious emperors, 
the ornaments of the temples," exclaims Firmicus, in 
the impatient zeal of a convert — for Firmicus once had 
been a heathen himself — ^' Melt down their gold, or 
coin it into money. Since the fall of the temples, you 
have made great advancement in the meritorious 
service of the Almighty: you have conquered your 
enemies and have enlarged your empire, and, as if to 
shed a brighter ray upon your virtues, yoa despised 
the ordinary course of the seasons, measuring with 
your oars the swollen and raging waves of the ocean, — 
an exploit which had never been achieved before! 
The billows of that almost unknown sea trembled, and 
the Briton quailed at the unexpected appearance of 
his emperor ^" 

Of the expedition which Constans made to Britain, 
no accounts have reached us; and it is safe to infer, 
that where a triumph over the waves of a narrow sea, 
is described in such terms of praise, little else occurred 

" Constans was slain in A.D, 350. '' Jul, F. Mater. De 

err. p. 463. 



A.D. 343.] CONSTANS IN BRITAIN. 303 

to employ the pen of the historian. Nor will the 
merit of the exploit of Constans be much enhanced in 
the mind of the modern Briton, by the description 
which the ancient rhetorician gives of the dangers 
attending on the navigation of our northern seas. " It 
is not becoming," says Libanius% " to pass over in 
silence the expedition into the island Britain, because 
the island is unknown to many, ... in order that all 
may learn that the emperor [Constans] sought it out, 
though beyond the known world, . . . Herodotus indeed 
. . . openly contends that this far-famed ocean does 
not exist. . . . And even they who believe such an 
ocean somewhere to exist, feel dizzy at the name 
thereof. Yet so far was the emperor from a feeling 
of this kind, that had he not made himself acquainted 
with it, drawn down his ship, proceeded on his passage, 
and moored in the harbours of Britain, he would have 
thought he had omitted that which more especially 
became him. Moreover, there is a report, supported 
by eye-witnesses, that there is greater danger for a 
round-built ship to be committed to that sea, than to 
stand the shock of a naval battle elsewhere : such vehe- 
ment tempests roll the waves to heaven, and violent 
winds, uplifting, carry them to the illimitable ocean. 
But that which is most tremendous is, that, when the 
helmsman has opposed his skill to every thing else, 
the sea retreats on a sudden, and the bark, hitherto 
aloit upon the waves, is discovered lying on the bare 
sand ; and should it quickly flow again, it carries off 
the vessel. And now again must the mariners labour; 
for if it delay its flowing, the bark settles down by 

' Libanius, Paneg. Const, el Const, did. A.D. 340. See also 
Anibros. Hexam. iii. 3. 



304 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVIII. 

degrees, the sand yielding to its weight. The emperor 
considered none of these matters, but knowing them 
perfectly, made no delay : ... he did not linger on the 
beach, . . . neither did he previously intimate or pro- 
claim his expeditions to the cities there. . . . Having 
embarked an hundred men, as it is said, and loosing 
his cables, he cut through the ocean. . . . Nor indeed, 
as this access to the island was so tranquil, did the 
return thence fall out otherwise. . . . But had the island 
revolted, and its inhabitauts been rebellious, and the 
province been circumscribed; had this news arrived, 
and he, irritated at such intelligence, had cast the die 
for sailing, then the boldness of his design could not 
have been ascribed to the love of glory, for the neces- 
sity consequent on such revolt would have taken away 
the greater part of its fame: but now matters being 
arranged in Britain, and no fear arising from the 
land, he began to be delighted with the wonders of the 
ocean." 

Whatever may have been the motive or the result of 
the emperor's journey to Britain, the fame of it has 
been set aside in favour of the more engrossing religious 
disturbances which already raged throughout Europe. 
The Council of Nice had pronounced a decisive 
sentence in favour of the Athanasian doctrines: and 
Constans supported the tenets then propounded : but 
his brother Constantius was an Arian; and the quarrels 
which arose from this difference of opinion in speculative 
theology, by its practical effects, brought merited ob- 
loquy on the whole of Christianity. 

The Council of Sardica, held in A.D. 347, failed to 
put an end to these disputes between the brothers and 
their adherents. Three hundred bishops assembled 



A.D. 350,] MAGNENTIUS, A BRITON. 305 

there from various countries, and amongst them were 
some from Britain " ; but the Eastern prelates decUned 
to attend, and, as the Synod was thus considered to 
lose its oecumenical or general character, the contro- 
versy was as far as ever li-om being satisfactorily 
decided. 

Three years after the Council of Sardica, whilst 
Constantius was deeply engaged, and not with as much 
success as he could have wished, in a war with Persia, 
his brother Constans fell a victim to one of those 
domestic treasons, which so frequently terminated the 
reign and the life of a Roman emperor. 

Magnentius*^ was by birth a Briton, and had attained 
the rank of Count in the service of Constans. He 
seems to have been a man of an ambitious and daring 
character, and with such an one nothing but an oppor- 
tunity is wanting. The absence of Constantius in the 
remote East, from which, on account of the difficulties 
of the Persian war^, he might never return, is said to 
have suggested to Magnentius the possibiUty of his 
reigning alone over the Roman world. A conspiracy 

* Athan. con. Apion. 

' Zonaras, xiii. 6. " Whence this Magnentius had the title of 
Taporus on an ancient stone not long since dug up at Rome, I leave 
to the enquiry of others. For these are the lines, speaking of the 
obelisk erected in the Circus at Rome. 

Interca Taporo Romam vastante tyranno 

Augudi jacidt doimm, studiumque locandi. 

But while Taporus tyrant ravaged Rome, 

Augustus' gift neglected lay o'enhrown." 
Gocgh's Camden, vol. i. p. civ. 

But, as Gough justly remarks, the name Taporus has been supplied 
by the critics, the original being only TA . . RO. Gvuter, clxxxvi. 3. 
Aram. Marc. xvii. 4. 

* Ibid. Aurel. Viclor. 



306 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH, XVIII. 

was formed with his fellow-officers : Constans was sur- 
prised, and slain without difficulty, and Magnentius 
became at once the master of all the Western empire. 
But his reign was of short duration. Constantius, not 
unv/illing perhaps to escape from the disasters of the 
Persian war, suspended the prosecution of his designs 
against the public enemy, until he should have taken 
vengeance on the murderer of his brother. The armies 
of the East and West three times met in deadly con- 
flict, and the victory thrice successively rested with 
Constantius. The bold adventurer, seeing that his 
hope of reigning was ended, killed himself at Lyons^ 
and Constantius, in A.D. 353, saw himself sole monarch 
of the same extensive sovereignty, which, nearly fifty 
years before, had devolved on his father Constantine. 

The battle of Mursa not only destroyed the hopes 
of Magnentius, but entailed severe suffering on the 
provinces which had espoused his cause. Britain, the 
birthplace of that adventurer, had probably exceeded 
the bounds of ordinary discretion in supporting his 
interests : she at all events, if we may believe the 
historian Ammianus Marcellinus ^, felt most severely 
the effects of his defeat, and of the indignation of the 
conqueror. 

" Among the flatterers of Constantius was one* 
Paulas, an eminent notary, born in Spain, a man of 
a deceitful character, and singularly astute and saga- 
cious in discovering secret conspiracies. This man 
was now sent into Britain to take proceedings against 
those who had espoused the part of Magnentius. 
Finding that his intended victims were powerless 
against him, he took upon himself to exceed his com- 
mission, and dealt terror around him by the severe 

'' Ammiaii. Marcell. xiv. 5. 



A.D. 353.] PAUL CATENA IN BRITAIN. 307 

measures which he used : men of gentle bhlh were 
thrown into prison, and some of them were even hand- 
cutfed, though the accusations which were brought against 
them were of a fictitious nature, totally opposite to the 
truth. These unjust proceedings cast a blot upon the 
reign of Constantius, which cannot be wiped out. The 
officer commanding at this time in Britain was one 
Martin', who deeply felt the sufferings to which the 
innocent inhabitants were subjected, and he did not 
cease to intercede in iheii' behalf, and entreat that at 
least those who were free from blame might be spared. 
Not succeeding in obtaining his request, he threatened 
that he would leave the island, hoping that the fear of 
his fulfilling this threat might deter the harsh inquisitor 
from bringing into peril those who were naturally 
averse from creating disturbances, and would willingly, 
if permitted, remain in tranquillity. Paul thought 
that this conduct of Martin tended to bring his services 
into disrespect, and began to put into action all that 
sub til ty of talent, which had gained for him the name 
of Catena or " The Chain," to involve the Vicar himself 
in the same disasters, from which he was endeavourino- 
to save his people. In pursuance of this object he 
urged, that the Vicar, together with certain tribunes 
and others, should be carried in chains to the court 

' History infoiTOS us, that about this time Gratiamis, siiniaiiicd 
Funarius, on account of his strength in retaining a roj^e against llic 
united strength of five men, held a superior command in Britahi, 
[prafuit ret castrcnsi,] but it is impossilile to say in what rchition 
he stood to Martin; as the notices of British events arc at this peiiod 
so scanty. Gratian is known to us also, as father of the emjjeror 
Valentniian. He retired from his command into private life, and was 
afterwards heavily fined by Constantius on a charge of having liospi- 
tably received Magncntius when marching towards Italy. [Amm. 
Marc. XXX. 7.] 

x2 



308 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVIII. 

of the emperor. Martin, alarmed at the impending- 
danger, watching his opportunity, rushed with his 
drawn sword on Paul, but his arm faltered, and he 
failed in his stroke, upon which he turned round, and 
plunged the sword in his own bosom. Thus fell an 
honest and upright man, who at all events delayed the 
infliction of injustice on the innocent people whom he 
governed, though he was unable ultimately to save 
them from the unjust fate, to which the abused autho- 
rity of the emperor consigned them. Paul returned 
to court steeped in British blood, and dragging with 
him a multitude of miserable victims loaded with chains, 
whose looks depicted the hopelessness of their destiny. 
Some of these suffered horrid tortures at the hands of 
the executioners : others were proscribed and exiled, 
and others again had their heads smitten from their 
bodies on the scaffold." 

By these severities ample vengeance was taken on 
the Britons, for espousing the cause of their country- 
man Magnentius; but the atrocious agent of this bloody 
work, by one of those acts of retribution, which the 
Providence of this world frequently displays, did not 
go down in peace to the grave. He was burnt alive in 
the reign of Julian, and so suffered as dreadful a fate, 
as that which he had inflicted on so many others. 

Meanwhile, the province of Britain was beginning 
to smart under a dispensation of Providence, which at 
last not only subverted its government, but led the 
way to the slaughter, exile, or servitude, of all its 
ancient race of inhabitants, together with the Romans, 
who for generations had been settled amongst them. 
This scourge, which for many years grievously afflicted 
Britain, arose from the appearance of new tribes, or 
new combinations of tribes, in the north of the island. 



A.D. 353 — 368.] PiCTS and scots. 309 

of whose origin history has left us but faint traces. 
The persevering courage of the Caledonians had main- 
tained the independence of their barren land down as 
late as the reign of Constantius. From an expression 
used by the panegyrist Eumenius ^', in the reign of 
Constantius Chlorus, grandfather of the existing 
emperor, it would seem, that the name of Picts was 
given to the Caledonians, as well as to other tribes 
of North Britain. Notwithstanding that such etymo- 
logies are in many instances fanciful, and not to be 
relied on, yet it is not improbable that the Romans 
attached the idea of painted men to this appellation. 
Whatever may have been its origin, the term first 
occurs in the government of Constantius Chlorus; and 
in the reign of his grandson, we first find that fatal 
union of Picts and Scots, which spread havoc and 
dismay from one end of the island to the other. 

Of the origin and country of the Scots, we know no 
more than of the Picts : whilst some writers represent 
them as a native British tribe, which increased in 
power and occupation of territory until they surpassed 
their neighbours ; others have assigned Ireland as the 
place of their first residence, from which, it is said, they 
issued, and gradually took possession of Scotland and 
of the isles. On the other hands, the Picts are said 
to have come from Scythia, by which, if any thing at 
all is meant, we must understand the Scandinavian 
countries, situated in the north of Europe. But it 
would be a task of too great daring to enter at 
present upon so wide a field of discussion ; and where 
the conclusions arrived at have been so conflicting, it 

'' Fanog. Const. Aw^. diet. A.D. 310, c. 5, 6. (.'alcdonuin alio- 
niinquG I'ictoruin. 



310 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVIII. 

is safe to limit our attention to that part of the con- 
sideration, which concerns the present subject ^ 

All writers, then, are agreed, that soon after the 
empire was restored to tranquillity, by the defeat and 
death of Magnentius, the combined forces of the Picts 
and Scots began to ravage the northern parts of the 
Roman territories in Britain, and to spread terror over 
the provinces already spent with the succession of 
former calamities "'. 

The distressed inhabitants addressed themselves to 
Gaul for assistance. That large and important country 
was, however, in almost as bad a position as Britain. 
The Alemanni were overrunning it in large numbers, 
and though checked by the abilities of the great 
Julian, whom Constantius had declared his colleague 
in the empire, and to whose care he had committed 
Gaul, yet the enemy still found him sufficient occupa- 
tion, and he was unable to sail in his own person to 
the relief of Britain. 

But the danger to which so important a province of 
the empire was exposed, forced itself upon the atten- 
tion of Julian. Britain, though less favoured by nature 
in the extraordinary and rapid growth of plants for 
which the regions of the torrid zone are remarkable, 
yet possesses a steady power of useful vegetation, which 
must render her soil always of value for supplying the 
simple and common necessaries of life. Its extraor- 
dinary agricultural resources were already practically 
known to Julian. As soon as his military successes 
in Gaul procured him the first interval of peace, he 

' Those who desire lo investigate tliis subject more fully, will do 
well to consult Gibbon's Decline and Fall, &c. chap. xxv. and the 
authors there cited. 

'" Ammian. Marc. xx. I. 



A.D. 360.] JULIAN SENDS LUPICINUS TO BRITAIN, oil 

turned his thoughts to the restoration oi tiie ruined 
cities. It was also incumbent upon him to provide his 
subjects with food as well as houses. " The tillage of 
the pro\inces of Gaul had been interrupted by the 
calamities of war; but the scanty harvests of the con- 
tinent were supplied, by his paternal care, from the 
plenty of the adjacent island. Six hundred large 
barks, framed in the forest of the Ardennes, made 
several voyages to the coast of Britain; and return- 
ing from thence laden with corn, sailed up the Rhine, 
and distributed their cargoes to the several towns 
and fortresses along the banks of the river"." 

To assist tlie Britons against their cruel ioes, was 
worthy the arms of Julian, but in the multitude 
of cares which surrounded him, he feared to leave 
Gaul without a governor, whilst the Alemanni still 
breathed nothing but blood and slaughter. Julian 
therefore came to the determination of sending one of 
his principal officers to aid the Britons, and made 
choice of Lupicinus, who was at that time camp- 
marshal", a brave and experienced officer, though in 
his private character he is said to have been open to 
some of those accusations of meanness or cupidity 
which often sully the virtues of public men. Lupici- 
nus, in discharge of the duties entrusted to him, 



" " We may credit Julian himself," says Gibbon, chap. xix. 
" Oral, ad S. P. Q. Atheiiiensem, p. 280, who gives a very pavlicular 
account ot the transaction. Zosinuis adds two hundred vessels more, 
1. iii. p. 145. If we compute the 600 corn-ships of .Julian at only 
70 tons each, they were capable of exporting 120,000 quarters, (see 
Arbuthnoi's Weights and Measures, p. 237,) and the country, which 
could bear so large an exportation, nnist already have attained an 
improved state of agncultnre." 

" Magistor annoruin. 



312 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XVIII. 

marched at the head of some light auxihary troops, to 
which were added some companies of the Heruli, 
Msesians, and Batavians, to Boulogne, where he took 
ship, though it was the depth of winter, for Britain. 
Landing, after a favourable voyage, at Richborough, 
he proceeded to London, there to take the measures 
which should be necessary, and to come to action, as 
opportunity should serve, with the army of the enemy. 
But the exploits of Lupicinus were probably limited 
to the defeat of the Picts and Scots : for of the trans- 
actions consequent upon his arrival historians are 
silent, and our attention is called off from the contests 
of blood and of the sword, to other scenes, which, under 
the name of peace, were of hardly a more peaceful 
nature. For bitter beyond description were the dis- 
putes, and tumultuary beyond the power of the present 
age to conceive were the meetings of religious sects, 
which, under the appellation of Councils of the Church, 
mark the reign of the second Constantius. 



CHAP. XIX. 



•CONSTANTIUS — RELIGIOUS DISPUTES — STNOD OF RIMINI— BRITISH 
BISHOPS— JULIAN — JOVIAN — VALENTINIAN — PICTS AND SCOTS- 
BRITAIN SAVED BY THEODOSIUS. 



More than forty years had passed since the 
Christians were persecuted by Diocletian. When 
the bloody decree was recalled, " all Christ's young 
disciples" in Britain, — we quote the words of Gildas, 
who lived 200 years later, — " after so long and wintry 
a night, began to behold the genial light of Heaven. 
They rebuilt the churches which had been levelled to 
the ground : they founded, erected, and finished temples 
in honour of the holy Martyrs, and every where shewed 
the insignia of victory: festivals were celebrated, and 
sacraments received with clean hearts and lips, and all 
the Church's sons rejoiced in the fostering bosom of 
their mother." 

But the reign of Constantius introduced into Britain 
the seeds of religious discord. History records too 
many instances of the influence which Sovereigns 
exercise upon the faith of their subjects. The father 
of Constantius, Constantine the Great, is undoubtedly 
responsible for having communicated to Christianity 
that secular character, wliich, during succeeding cen- 
turies, gave the Church so much sway over the temporal 



314 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIX. 

affairs of the world, as totally for a time to submerge 
the spiritual simplicity of its original. And now the 
son of Constantine was almost on the point of destroy- 
ing one of the doctrines of Christianity which his 
father would have held most sacred. And, surprising 
as is the fact, a majority of his subjects, in various 
parts of the empire, occasionally supported the hetero- 
dox principles of the emperor. It has been said, that 
it would be happy for the world, if all its kings were 
philosophers, or all philosophers were kings. But the 
maxim has not been verified in the case of Christian 
philosophy; for it would be well for mankind if none 
of their governors had ever interfered in matters of 
religion, or attempted to enforce on their subjects the 
tenets which belong to religious controversy. 

The peace of the empire was disturbed by the con- 
flicts between Arius and Athanasius. Constantius was 
an Arian, and, though our ecclesiastical writers were 
too courtly to charge on the emperor all the evils 
which his Arian bias occasioned, yet they spare no 
abuse in describing the pestilential nature of the 
doctrines. " The holy union," continues Gildas, 
" between Christ the Head and the members of His 
Church, was interrupted by the Arian treason, which, 
fatal as a serpent, and vomiting its poison from beyond 
the sea, caused deadly dissension between brothers 
inhabiting the same house, and thus, as if a road were 
made across the sea, like wild beasts of all descriptions, 
and darting the poison of every heresy from their jaws, 
they inflicted dreadful wounds upon their country, 
which is ever desirous to hear something new, and 
remains constant long to nothing." 

The divinity of Christ, which was the point so 
zealously defended by the Athanasians, and assailed 



A.D. 360.] COUNCIL OF RIMINI. 316 

by the Aiians, laboured under a serious disadvantage in 
the known hostihty of the emperor; and many a synod 
was held for the purpose of settling this knotty doc- 
trine. In the eastern provinces, the tenets of the 
Court were supported by a majority of the Bishops. In 
the year 360, Constantius removed the scene of action 
to the West, and convoked a synod at Rimini, on the 
coast of tlie Adriatic. 

Of four hundred Bishops who there assembled, 
eighty only held the opinions of Arius, and the western 
empire seemed to maintain its orthodoxy, in spite of 
the influence and solicitations of the Court. Yet the 
interference of the public authority was sufficient, one 
would have thought, to conquer the stubbornness of 
the meeting, when the arbitrary nature of the imperial 
government is duly weighed. Taurus, the prefect, was 
entrusted by Constantius with the task of convening 
the Bishops, and conducting the operations of the 
Council. His powers were specific and significant : he 
was ordered to let none of them depart, until they 
should have agreed on a formulary of faith, and the 
consulship was promised to him as the reward of his 
success. Emissaries were dispatched in all directions, 
the Council was speedily convoked, and provision was 
ordered to be furnished at the public expense to the 
Prelates who attended. " But tliis," says the eccle- 
siastical historian, Sulpicius 8everus, " seemed unbe- 
coming to the Bishops of Aquitaine, Gaul, and Britain, 
and they chose rather to live at their own charge, than 
at the expense of the Exchequer. Three only of the 
British Bishops, who were in needy circumstances, 
made use of the public provision ; for, though the other 
Bishops offered to make a subscription for them, they 



316 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XlX, 

thought it more decent to be indebted to the public 
purse, than to be a burden upon individuals % 

The proceedings of the Council were protracted to 
an unusual length; and finally, the arguments of the 
Court-party, backed by the out-door support by which 
the emperor's instructions were sought to be enforced, 
prevailed to a certain extent over the orthodoxy of the 
majority. A semi-arian Creed was subscribed to, 
wherein the word expressing the consubstantial nature 
of the Son, which had hitherto been the supposed test 
of the true faith, was omitted, and the Bishops were 
allowed to depart to their respective homes. Constan- 
tius died the next year, and Julian, who despised alike 
the followers of Arius and Athanasius, succeeded to 
the empty throne. 

During the short reign of this emperor, little is 
recorded of what passed in Britain. Palladius was 
displaced from the office^ which he had held in the 
island, for some suspicion of having calumniated 
Julian's brother Gallus; and Alypius, another officer, 
who had governed Britain as pro-prefect and vicar*", 
was sent to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The mis- 
sion of Lupicinus belongs to the time when Julian held 
the subordinate rank of Caesar*. 

In the reign of Jovian, who followed Julian in the 
empire % the tranquillity of Britain was fearfully dis- 
turbed by the invasions of the northern barbarians. 
" At this time/' says Ammianus^, " the Picts, Saxons, 
Scots, and Attacots, vexed the Britons by unceasing 

* Sulp. Sev. Hist. Eccles. ii. 55. 

* Magister ofEciorum, Amm. Marc. xxii. 3. 

•= Ibid. xxix. 1. " See page 311. ' From A. D. 363 

to 364. ' Amm. Marc. xxvi. 4. 



A. D. 364.] ATTACOTTI VALENTINIAN EMPEROR. 317 

calamities." Of the four tribes which thus combined 
to work destruction on the Romanized Britons, three 
have ah-eady occurred to notice as having for many years 
harassed the coasts of the island. But the fourth of 
these tribes now appears for the first time, and the 
only information which we possess about them is 
derived from the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, and 
the ecclesiastical writer St. Jerome. " Why need I 
speak of other nations?" says this Father; '' for, when 
I was a young man, I saw in Gaul some Attacots, who 
are a British tribe, eat human flesh. This people, 
when they find herds of swine or cattle in the woods, 
cut off" the buttocks and breasts of the men and women 
who attend them, and esteem these as the greatest 
delicacies!" In contrast with such horrid feasts, the 
loose and promiscuous intercourse which the same 
writer ascribes to the Scots, as taking place of the 
marriage-rite, is passed over by the reader as hardly 
worthy of his notice ! " If in the neighbourhood of 
the commercial and literary town of Glasgow, a race of 
cannibals has really existed, we may contemplate, in 
the period of the Scottish history, the opposite extremes 
of savage and civilized life^." 

In the midst of the ravages, which these barbarians 
wrought in Britain, Valentinian succeeded to the throne 
of the Roman empire, and thirty days after his assump- 
tion of the purple^, he associated his brother Valens in 
the sovereignty of dominions which were too extensive 
for an individual to govern, or to control alone. 

The talents of the new emperor, who reserved for 
himself the administration of the western provinces, 
were far above the average of his times : but his habit 
of turning a deaf ear to the complaints and grievances 

« Gibbon, chap. xxv. *■ On the 28th of Miaxh, A. D. 364. 



318 HISTOEY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIX, 

of his subjects, soon involved him in evils that might 
have been foreseen and prevented. The disturbances 
occasioned in Britain by the invasions of the Picts and 
Scots, assailed the tranquillity of the emperor from the 
North, and Africa in the South rung with alarms that 
shook the throne of the new sovereign from its basis. 
Illyricum too was agitated by convulsions', and the whole 
empire heaved and swayed under the effects of one of 
those moral earthquakes, which often are the fore- 
runners of approaching dissolution. 

Valentinian had left the city of Amiens, and was 
making the best of his way to Treves *", when he was 
astounded by the news that Britain was suddenly 
reduced to the greatest extremities by a general com- 
bination of the barbarians ; that Nectaridus, count of 
the sea-coast, was slain, and duke Fullofaudes surprised 
and cut off by an ambuscade of the enemy. Alarmed 
at this intelligence, the emperor sent Sevcrus, at that 
time steward of the household, or, as his title ran, 
** Count of the Domestics," to settle matters in Britain, 
if an opportunity should present itself. But he soon 
after recalled him, and substituted in his place Jovinus'. 
The new emissary made all haste to cross over into his 
government, and sent on Provertuides in advance, to 
petition for a considerable body of troops to be ready 
on his arrival. This indeed was a demand which the 
necessity of the case rendered imperative. 

In the mean time, the state of things in Britain grew 
worse and worse : and the reports which reached the 

' Ammian. Marc. xxx. 9. 

'' A. D. 368. Ammiaims Marcellinus, xxvii. 8, 9. 

' Valentinian also sent over Fraoniar, king of a Gennan tribe, with 
a fine body of men, to aid the Britons, but the date of this event is 
uncertain. See Am. Mar. xxix. 4. 



A. D. 368.] THEODOSIUS IN BRITAIN. 319 

emperor's ears were so alarming, that it became neces- 
sary to take the most decisive steps, if he wished to 
retain Britain under his sovereignty. In this emer- 
gency, Valentinian wisely determined to send over the 
gi'eatest man in his dominions, the celebrated Theo- 
dosius, father of a futm-e emperor, to check the invaders, 
and to restore tranquillity. The signal services of 
Theodosius pointed him out as a proper general : a 
stout army of legionaries and cohorts was speedily 
assembled, and they were soon ready to depart, with 
every confidence of success. 

We follow up the narrative of his expedition in the 
words of Ammianus : 

"As I have before endeavoured," says this historian'", 
" to describe the ebb and flow of the ocean, and the 
geographical position of Britain, I consider it super- 
fluous in this place to travel over the same ground 
again, as Ulysses in Homer, 

What so tedious as a twice-told tale ? 

Suffice it to say, that at this time the Picts were 
divided into two nations, the Dicalidons, and the 
Vecturions : these, together with a warlike tribe, called 
the Attacotts, and the Scots, roamed about and plun- 
dered the whole country. At the same time, the 
coasts of Gaul were ravaged by their neighbours, the 
Franks and Saxons, who invaded both by sea and 
land, burnt and destroyed every thing, and murdered 
their prisoners in cold blood. 

" It was to check these evils, if Fortune would so 
far be favourable as to allow him an opportunity oi" 
doing so, that this great general visited so remote a 
part of the world; and when he arrived at Bononia 

'" In ii \)nyt of his work wl)i(.li is now lost. 



320 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIX^ 

[Boulogne], he embarked on the sea which separates 
it from the opposite land, and which sometimes swells 
into the most dreadful waves, and presently after smooths 
down into a tranquil surface, over which vessels may 
sail in safety. Theodosius had an easy passage across 
the sea to Rutupice [Richborough], which is a quiet 
port on the opposite coast. Here was the rendezvous 
of his troops, consisting of the Batavians and Heruli, 
the Jovii and the Victores, and from thence, trusting 
to numbers, he directed his march towards London, an 
ancient town, called of late years Augusta. When he 
arrived there, he divided his men into several bodies, 
and fell upon the straggling troops of the enemy, 
whilst they were out plundering, and encumbered by 
the load of their booty. He speedily routed those 
who were carrying off the prisoners and cattle, and 
rescued the property, which had been taken from the 
wretched inhabitants. After restoring the whole to its 
owners, except a small part, which was reserved for his 
soldiers after their fatigue, he entered with triumph 
into the city, which a short time before had been 
plunged in the greatest distress : but was now suddenly 
recalled to life, by the salvation which had so unex- 
pectedly appeared. 

" Here he was tempted by his success to look 
forward to greater achievements, but cool reflection 
suggested safe counsels, and he felt doubtful of the 
result, for the evidence both of prisoners and deserters 
convinced him that such a rabble, consisting of men 
of different races, and liable to such bursts of ferocity, 
could be kept down only by secret stratagems, and 
sudden excursions. Finally, therefore, he issued a 
proclamation, offering amnesty to all deserters, and 
such others as were roaming at large throughout the 



A.D. 368.] THEODOSIUS IN BRITAIN. 321 

country. On this promise, a great number returned 
to their duty : and Theodosius, encouraged by tliis 
result, though still anxious about the state of things, 
requested that one CiviHs should be sent out to 
govern Britain as pro-pra^fect, a man of an active 
intellect, but of the highest sense of honour and 
justice ; and with him Dulcitius, a warlike and ex- 
perienced commander. 

" Such was the course of events at that time in 
Britain "." 

" After a short interval of repose, during which he 
received the reinforcements which he expected, Theo- 
dosius left London, at the head of a brave and well- 
selected army, and by his successes on every side 
restored the fortunes of the defeated and dispirited 
Britons: he every where anticipated the enemy in 
occupying the most important points, and gave no 
orders to the common soldiers, which he was not 
himself the first to execute. In this way, discharging 
the duties both of an able general and brave soldier, 
he routed the various tribes, whose insolence, prompted 
by security, had led them to attack the Romans, and 
restored all the cities and fortresses, which, though 
they suffered severely from their manifold losses, had 
been originally well contrived for maintaining a lasting 
peace. 

" In the course of these events, an affair of a 
serious nature transpired, which would have led to 
most disastrous consequences, if it had not been for- 
tunately stifled in its beginning. A certain Valentine", 

" Ammian. Marcel, xxvii. 6. 

" This Valentine is called Valcnliiiian by Zosimus, [iv. 12. J 
Jornandes, [de Reg. s. 8.] and the I^utiii text of the Chroiiiclo of 
Eusebius, [sub Gratiani an. 7.] There cannot bi^a doubl of liieir 
V 



322 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XIX, 

of Valeria in Pannonia, a man of a proud spirit, and 
brother to the wife of Maximin, that mischievous Vicar, 
who was afterwards prsefect, being driven from his 
country on account of a serious crime, was hving in 
exile in Britain ; and, unable to endure inactivity, was 
continually bestirring himself, like some noxious animal, 
to raise disturbances, directed principally against 
Theodosius, the only person whom he thought able 
to resist his diabolical intentions. He formed his 
plans partly in private and partly in public, and as his 
ambitious views grew daily, he tried his arts among 
the soldiers, and those who were exiled from their 
country, offering them tempting rewards for their co- 
operation. And now they were not far from putting 
their designs in execution; but Theodosius, having 
been informed of every thing, and being now prepared 
to vindicate the cause of justice, handed over Valentine, 
with a few of his most intimate associates, into the 
hands of Dulcitius for punishment : but his keen 
military experience, in which he excelled all the 
others, leading him to form a ready decision what 
measures were likely to be most beneficial for the 
future, he forbade too minute enquiry to be made into 
the conspiracy, lest fear should be spread among the 
multitude, and so the former disturbances of the pro- 
vince might be revived. 

" The conspiracy of Valentinian thus checked, Theo- 
dosius now turned his attention to correct many evils 
which required redress : all danger was entirely re- 
moved, and it appeared that his usual good fortune 
still accompanied all his proceedings. He rebuilt the 
cities and garrison-fortresses, as we have said, and 

identity, though the Chronicle places the event iu the seventh year 
of Gratian's reign, which is too late by four years. 



A.D. 369.] TRANQUILLITY RESTORED TO BRITAIN. 323 

secured the frontiers with guards and lines of forts ; 
and so the Roman province, which had a httle before 
been wholly in the possession of the eilemy, was so 
completely restored to its former state, that the lawful 
authority of its governor was perfectly reestablished, 
and it assumed the name of Valentia, in honour of the 
emperor, under whose administration such a successful 
accomplishment had been attained p." 

P Ibid, xxviii. 3. The geographical limits of the provinces into 
which Britain was divided under the Romans, have always puzzled 
antiquarians. The names of Britannia Prima, Britannia Secunda, 
Flavia, Maxima, Valentia, and Vespasiana, occur in the writings of 
the Roman historians, as early as the year A.D, 360. Sextus Rufus 
Festus is the first writer who enumerates the Roman provinces in 
Britain : according to his account, they were named, 1. Maxima 
Caesariensis, 2. Flavia, 3. Britannia prima, 4. Britannia secunda. 
After him, Ammianus Marcellinus, in the passage above quoted in 
the text, A.D. 380, mentions the province of Valentia, and the origin 
of its name. In the Notitia imperii, supposed to have been written 
about A.D. 410, we have the provinces of Maxima surnamed Ceesa- 
riensis, Valentia, Britannia prima, Britannia secunda, and Flavia 
Caesariensis. No other historian enumerates these provinces until 
the fourteenth century, when Richard of Cirencester gives the 
following detailed account of them. 

" Britannia prima is separated by the Thames from Flavia, and by 
the sea from Britannia secunda. 

" Flavia begins on the coast of the German sea, and is bounded 
by the Thames, and separated by the Severn, from the territories of 
the Silures and the Ordovices : it extends towards the north, and the 
country of the Brigautes. 

" Maxima begins on the extreme frontiers of Flavia: it reaches 
to the lower part of the wall, which crosses the island, and faces the 
north. 

" Valentia occupies the space between the two walls, namely, the 
one which I have just mentioned, and the other built by the emperor 
Antoninus Pius, between Bodora [Frith of Forth] and the Clyde. 

" Vespasiana reaches from the Friih of Bodora to the city of 
Alcluith [Dumbarton], from which a line drawn to the mouth of the 
river Varar shews its frontier, 

Y 2 



324 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [cH. XIX. 

There was at this time in Britain a class of men 
named Arcanii, but of their exact nature, and of the 
duties which they discharged, we have no information ; 
the original historian refers us, for an account of them^ 
to a former part of his work, which is now lost; and 
merely tells us, that their business was to travel and 
procure the earliest intelligence of what was passing 
among the neighbouring nations. 

These men had now degenerated into vicious prac- 
tices, and w^ere displaced by Theodosius from their 
appointments : they were plainly proved to have some- 
times betrayed to the barbarians the proceedings of 
our troops, tempted by the enormous sums which were 
offered them as bribes. 

When the abovenamed transactions, and others of 
a similar nature, were all brought to a happy issue, 
Theodosius was summoned to court, and took his 
leave of the provinces which he had restored to hap- 
piness, like Furius Camillus or Papirius Cursor, 
crowned with the most seasonable victories. The 
applauding multitude escorted him down to the sea, 
which he crossed with a favourable wind, and reached 
the quarters of the Prince. Here he was received 
with joy and triumph, and appointed to be commander- 



" Britannia secunda faces, between the west and north, that part of 
the Ocean which looks towards Ireland." [See Historical Documents 
concerning the Ancient Britons, page 389.] 

By comparing this extract with the map of Ancient Britain, the 
reader will possess nearly all that is now to be known on this subject. 

•> Unluckily, the only MS. of Amniianus Marcellinus is defective 
in this place, and so it is impossible to say, whether the word is 
entire, or only half of a word. The word Arcani means " secret 
agents," which gives a better sense than Areani, as some editions 
have it. 



A.D. 369.] THEODOSIUS RETURNS TO ITALY. 325 

in-chief of the cavahy, an office which had just been 
vacated by Valens Jovinus '. 

' Symmachus infoiins us, that Theodosius was honoured with an 
equestrian statue, [Symm. epist. lib. x. ep. 1.] The description of 
his victories given by Claudian, [Consul. Honor. 1. 26 — 33. and 
52 — 58.] in which the poet carries his anns to Thulc and the 
Orkney islands, is of course to be understood as a poetical ex- 
aggeration. See also Pacatus Drepanius, c. 5. 



CHAP. XX. 



EMPERORS GRATIAN AND VALENTINIAN II.— DEATH OF VALENS— GRA- 
TIAN APPOINTS. THEODOSIUS, EMPEROR OF THE EAST — GRATIAN's 
NEGLECT OP HIS IMPERIAL DUTIES— DISAFFECTION OF THE TROOPS— 
MAXIMITS REVOLTS IN BRITAIN — DEATH OF GRATIAN— MAXIMUS 
DEFEATED AND SLAIN BY THEODOSIUS. 



It was the unfortunate lot of the Roman emperors, 
that few of them reigned long enough to consolidate 
the success which they had gained, or to perpetuate 
the government, which they had so much difficulty in 
establishing, against the revolutionary and rebellious 
spirit of so many nations united under one ruler. 
Valentinian died after a reign of twelve years, and the 
throne fell to the youthful Gratian, his eldest son% and 
a younger, the infant Valentinian the Second. 

In the participation of the western empire, between 
the brothers, it was agreed that Britain, Gaul, and 
Spain, should be governed by Gratian, whilst the more 
tranquil provinces of Italy and the countries bordering 
on the Mediterranean, were assigned to the young 
Valentinian^. 

'^ Valentinian died on the 17th of November, A. D. 375y and his 
son Gratian, who had already shared the sovereignty nine years with 
his father, held it in conjunction with his younger brother, Valen- 
tinian II. until the 25th of August, A.D. 383. 

* Zosimus, iv. 19. 



A.D. 379.] THEODOSIUS THE SON IS MADE EMPEROR. 327 

Shortly after this new settlement" of the western 
portion of the empire, Valens was defeated by the 
barbarians, and died near Hadrianople. This left the 
throne of the East vacant, and Gratian was not long in 
finding a worthy person to choose in the place of his 
late uncle and colleague. The illustrious Theodosius, 
who rescued Britain from the barbarians, had fallen a 
victim to the jealousy of the imperial court, but he left 
behind him a son, who, with talents equal to those of 
his father, united a happier fortune, which led Gratian 
to fix on him as the most fitting person he could select 
to fill the eaipty throne. 

The choice was ratified by the consent of many 
applauding nations j for by a natural, though often 
erroneous judgment, the merits of a father are always 
the best passport of his son. In the present instance, 
the anticipation of the son's desert was justly identified 
with the memory of his father's services, and the choice, 
which displayed the sagacity of Gratian, infused new 
vigour into the administration of the government. 

But amid the general satisfaction, which hailed the 
elevation of Theodosius, there was one dissentient 
voice, which unfortunately had power to make itself 
heard over some of the largest provinces of the empire. 
The army in Britain was at this time, if not under the 
command, yet greatly under the influence of Clemens ^ 
Maximus, a man who is said by historians, and is 
shewn by his deeds, to have possessed many talents 

' Theodosius was declared emperor in January, A. D. 379. 

*" Camden has inaccurately described Maximus as commander of 
the army in Britain; the evror is pointed out by Gibbon in his 
Decline and P'all of the Roman Empire. See Sozimus, iv. 35. The 
prefix of" Clemens" is given to Maximus on the authority of Sul- 
picius Severus, [iv. 30.] 



328 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. XX. 

both of mind and body. Of his previous services we 
have no mention, but the elevation of Theodosius gave 
him great offence, for he probably considered himself 
more deserving of the purple. In estimating the 
merits of the candidates, we may set aside the hyper- 
bolical language in which Pacatus panegyrizes the 
great Theodosius, and the disparaging terms in which 
he describes Maximus, after the former was victorious, 
and his rival was cold in the grave. 

" Once the most worthless slave in your household, 
he could hardly have borne the first look of your 
piercing eye. Could he have avoided drawing a con- 
trast between himself and you.^ Must he not have 
reflected within himself, that you are the son of one 
who triumphed at the head of the Roman armies, 
whereas himself knew not his own father : you the heir 
of a noble house, and he your client'' ? " To set against 
this abuse of the panegyrist, we have the testimony of 
Orosius, who says, that Maximus was a " brave and 
honourable man, who would have well deserved to be 
raised to the rank and title of Augustus, if he had not 
risen to it by the violation of his military oath V We 
find the same expressions in the mouth of Venerable 
Bede^, but, as he has copied them almost verbatim 
from Orosius, he adds little to the testimony of that 
writer. But in those unsettled times, the only defect, 
which historians have detected in the character of 
Maximus, would probably be considered no impedi- 
ment to the justice of his ambition, if the object of it 
could be obtained by the power of his arms. Neither 
would his lov/ly origin detract from his enjoyment of 
the imperial diadem, if it could be once securely 

• Paneg. Theod. diet. A. D. 391. c. 31. ^ Oios, vii. 34. 

s Eccles. Hist. i. 9. 



A.D. 383.] MAXIMUS IN BRITAIN. 329 

fastened on his brow. In a succession of despotic 
monaichs, of whom so many had risen ft-om the lowest 
rank, it is unimportant whether Maximus was a sculHon 
in the kitchen of Theodosius, or of royal Welsh ex- 
traction, whose name in his own dialect was Macsen 
Wledig, and husband of Ellen Lyddog, the sister of 
Cynan, a chief of Merriadog\ Setting aside these 
opposing improbabilities, we may be content with the 
simple and rational declaration of Zosimus' and Bede, 
that Maximus was a Spaniard, the countryman of 
Theodosius and of others who issued from that penin- 
sula to attain to honour in the capital of the empire. 
If the enterprise of Maximus had been successful, and 
he had reigned with the consent of the people and 
senate of the eternal city, it would have been, if it were 
then possible, an instructive contrast to draw between 
Maximus the lawful " imperator," and Maximus the 
" tyrant" from Britain, that country singularly fertile 
in producing usurpers of the imperial dignity''. 

But it would not be just to deny to Maximus the 
benefit of a doubt which is cast on the real nature of 
his attempt by the discrepant statements of historians. 
The testimony of Zosimus\ that Maximus stirred up 
the army in Britain to avenge the insult, which he had 
received in the preference shewn to Theodosius, is 
unsupported by any other ancient wTiter. On the 
other hand, the words of Orosius"" are exphcit, " he 

'' See Usher's account of Maximus, and the testimonies quoted 
from Henry of Huntingdon, Fordun, and others, who knew no more 
about the subject than himself. The story that Maximus married 
tho daughter of a i ich lord of Carnarvonshire, is the more absurd, 
from its being entirely unsupported by ancient testimony. 

' Hist. iv. 3/>. ^ Hierou. cpist. 43. ad Ctesip. 

' Hist. iv. 35. '" Oros. vii. 34. 



330 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX. 

was declared emperor by the army almost against his 
will, and so crossed into Gaul." The same view of 
the case seems to have suggested the language of 
Prosper, that he became emperor " through a sedition 
of the soldiers "*." And it is not difficult to discover, in 
the conduct of Gratian, satisfactory causes of the alien- 
ation of his subjects from their obedience, and of the 
army from its duty. The sovereign who sets aside 
the people his natural supporters, and surrounds himself 
with troops of foreigners and mercenaries, must not be 
surprised if those, whom he thinks unnecessary to his 
existence, shall at length find that they can dispense 
with having him for their ruler. Nor does it mitigate 
the indiscretion of Gratian, that the Scythian warriors 
who filled his court were unrivalled in guiding their 
fleet chargers, and in spearing the wild animals with 
which his numerous parks were crowded. And it did 
not satisfy the people, who looked for deliberative 
wisdom and good laws from their prince, that Gratian's 
bearing was singularly noble when he was clad like a 
Hunnish warrior, or that his spear, rivalling the arrow 
of one of his predecessors Commodus, could bring 
down successfully the fleetest animals of the chase. A 
company of Alans, in particular, engrossed much of 
Gratian's favour, and this begot great hatred to him 
among the soldiers, which, increasing by degrees, 
excited in them a revolutionary spirit. The disafiection 
spread rapidly; for what all men fear as likely to happen 
to themselves, speedily creates sympathy in the minds 
of others, who are exposed to ill-treatment even whilst 
they are still free from it. The soldiers in Britain bore the 

" Chronicon, A. D. 384, with which agrees the author of Pseudo- 
Chronicon found among the works of Prosper. 



A.D. 383.] MAXIMUS REVOLTS. 331 

character of being turbulent and bold beyond all others", 
and, as we have seen, when there was a revolution in 
Europe, had often sent forth an aspirant to the throne. 
To join in the public indignation was to do what their 
feelings as men prompted; to declare themselves in 
revolt followed in quick succession ; and we may believe 
that Maximus, unwilling to raise the first voice in 
expressing the sentiments of the army, gladly, though 
with apparent backwardness, embraced the declaration 
of the soldiers, by which he was saluted with the 
title of Augustus. The purple robe was thrown 
over his shoulders, and the diadem placed upon 
his head; but these were speedily laid aside, and 
replaced by the helmet, shield, and spear, instruments 
better fitted for maintaining the rank which he had 
assumed. 

We may concede to Maximus the benefit of that law 
which gives to every man the right of preserving his 
own life at the peril of another's : but the promptness 
with which the usurper, when the die was once cast, 
seconded the blow which he had struck, cannot but 
claim our respect for his wisdom, however his feigned 
reluctance to accept the purple may be thought to 
detract from his sincerity. It was dangerous to trifle 
with the chances of a defeat, even when the victor was 
so little given to the unnecessary shedding of blood as 
the amiable Gratian. 

Adopting the wisest course which was open to him, 
Maximus recruited his army by every means in his 
power : Romans and Britons flocked to his standard in 
such numbers, that the island seemed drained of its 
youth, and, as historians tell us, bitterly suffered in the 

" Zos. iv. 35. 



332 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX. 

sequel for the loss of its brave defenders, who joined 
the standard of the usurper p. 

With a large army of soldiers zealous in the cause, 
Maximus crossed into Gaul, where the public dis- 
affection towards the emperor secured him a welcome 
reception. Gratian was residing at Paris without fear 
of disturbance or apprehension of rebellion. After 
vainly endeavouring to make head against the invader, 
he fled towards the South at the head of a faithful body 
of cavalry, intending to go into Italy i, but received little 
encouragement from the towns and cities through which 
he passed, to give him hopes of successfully resisting 
the enemy. " Yet he might still have reached in 
safety the dominions of his brother; and soon have 
returned with the forces of Italy and the East, if he had 
not suffered himself to be fatally deceived by the per- 
fidious governor of the Lyonnese province. Gratian was 
amused by protestations of doubtful fidelity, and the 
hopes of a support which could not be effectual ; till 
the arrival of Andragathius, the general of the cavalry 
of Maximus, put an end to his suspense. That resolute 
officer executed, without remorse, the orders, or the 
intentions, of the usurper. Gratian, as he rose from 
supper, was delivered into the hands of the assassin ; 



p " Archbishop Usher, (Antiq. Britan. eccles. p. 107, 108.) has 
diligently collected the legends of the island and the continent. The 
whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers, and 100,000 plebeians, 
who settled in Bretagne, Their destined brides, St. Ursula with 
1 1,000 noble, and 60,000 plebeian, virgins, mistook their way; landed 
at Cologne, and were all most cruelly murdered by the Huns. But 
the plebeian sisters have been defrauded of their equal honours ; and, 
what is still harder, John Trithemius presumes to mention the children. 
of these British virgins.'" Gibbon, ch. xxvii. 

1 Orosius, vii. 34. 



A.D. 383.] MAXIMUS EMPEROR IN GAUL. 333 

and his body was denied to the pious and pressing 
entreaties of his brother Valentinian^" 

Emboldened by the success of his arms, Maximus 
conferred the rank of Coesar on his son Victor', who 
was still a child, and dispatched with all speed an 
ambassador to the court of Theodosius. The mes- 
senger offered the eastern monarch his choice of 
peace or warj at the same time that he yielded 
so far to the dictates of discretion as to plead his 
master's compulsory assumption of the purple, his 
innocence of the murder of Gratian, and his sorrow for 
that melancholy event. To give a suitable answer to 
the ambassador of one who had murdered his benefactor, 
required all the wisdom of Theodosius. It cannot be 
doubted that he would gladly have hurled from his throne 
the rash invader, who was stained with the blood of 
Gratian, but domestic wars always sap the strength 
of an empire, and pity for the people, who would suifer 
in the struggle, led Theodosius to decide on peace. 
It was agreed that Maximus should retain Britain, 

' These are the words of Gibbon, on a point of history by no 
means well ascertained. Compare the account given by Camden. 
" Gratian, marching an army against him (Maximus), and being 
after 5 days' skirmishing deserted by his own men and put to flight, 
sent St. Ambrose to treat of peace, which he obtained, though it 
proved a very treacherous one [Cedrenus]. For Maximus sent 
Andragathias in a close litter, giving out that it was Gratian 's wife 
coming from Britain in it. Gratian coming up to it eager to meet 
her, and opening it, Andragathias presently started out of it with his 
peojile, and slabbed him. Ambrose was sent a second time to demand 
his body, but was denied admiltaiico, because he had refused lo 
communicate with the bishops who .sided with Maximus." Gough's 
Camden, vol. i. p. cvii. See the original writers, Aurcl. Vict. Epit. 
c. 47. Oros. vii. 34, Socrat. Hist, cedes, v. 11. Sozoin. Hist. cccl. 
vii, 13. Prosper, Pseudoch. 

* Prosp. Chron. 



334 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX, 

Gaul, and Spain, leaving Italy and the other countries 
of the west in the possession of the young Valentinian. 
By the event of this embassy, Maximus was secure in 
his conquests, and entered triumphant into the city 
of Treves, which he made the capital of his newly- 
acquired sovereignty. 

It can hardly be supposed, that a prince of enlarged 
views of policy, like Theodosius, could be induced to 
look with favour on the cause of Maximus, because in 
its religious character it was connected with his own. 
And yet the new emperor belonged to the same class 
of Christians as Theodosius. The distinction of the 
Arian and orthodox parties continued to divide the 
world. The emperor of the East differed from most of 
his predecessors who had been Arians, but Theodosius 
won the applause of Europe by his strict adherence to 
the tenets of Athanasius. To this bias Maximus was 
also inclined, and unfortunately he was presented with 
an opportunity of signalizing his regard for one of the 
doctrines of his religion, by an act which altogether 
disqualified him from claiming any share of its moral 
practice or privileges. The heresy of the Priscilli- 
anists, a sect of the Manichaeans*, had at this time 
spread over parts of Spain, Italy, and Gaul, and pre- 
vailed particularly at Treves, where these schisma- 
tics drew down upon them the enmity of the orthodox 
party, even before the arrival of Maximus from Britain". 
One of their principal opponents was Ithacius, Bishop 
of Sossuba, who,, uncertain how far violence might 
succeed against the new sect, modified his indignation 
till the invader, of whose coming there was a current 
report, should arrive. Maximus had hardly entered 

' Prosper, Pseudochron. sub an. 385. 
" Sulpicius Severus, ii. 64, 65. 



A.D. 335.] INTOLERANCE OF MAXIMUS. 335 

the city of Treves, when Ithacius laid before him the 
charges against PriscilHan and his followers, and 
requested permission to restrain them by the hand of 
power. The disposition of Maximus was not averse 
from persecution ; an art in which he excelled his 
precursor Theodosius. The eastern emperor secured 
the approbation of the orthodox for having established 
the theory of persecution, but Maximus is the first of 
the emperors who bears the odious reputation of 
having: shed blood for the sake of the Christian reli- 
gion. His cruelty towards the Priscillianists — an ob- 
scure set of fanatics which would speedily have dis- 
appeared of its own accord — has left an indelible stain 
upon his Christian principles, if not upon his worldly 
prudence also. A certain Patricius, who held the 
office of Comptroller of the Exchequer", was set up as 
accuser against Priscillian, who, by the agency of this 
suborned minister, was condemned to death, and with 
him two priests, Felicissimus and Armenius, who had 
abandoned the orthodox creed. A man also named 
Latronianus, and Euchrocia a Gaulish lady, were " slain 
with the sword." 

Two of the heretics, Instantius and Tiberianus, were 
spared the severer sentence, and mercifully banished 
to the islands of Scilly, lying off the extreme promon- 
tory of Britain. The latter of these had all his worldly 
goods taken from him, an inhuman aggi-avation of 
punishment to one whose maintenance was to be de- 
rived liom the barren rocks of Sicily, and — considering 
the narrow opportunities of expense which his place of 
exile would allow him — almost equally unnecessary by 
way of penance, as it was inhuman for the purpose of 
punishment. Of an inferior rank two names are 

* Fisci paUoiius. 



336 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX, 

recorded, Asarinus and Aurelius, the latter of whom 
bore the rank of deacon in the Christian Church y. 

For these acts of oppression, nothing but the most 
absolute sincerity of the oppressor can afford the 
slightest extenuation ; he who presumes to dictate to 
another the mode or practice of religious belief, should 
be free from all suspicion that his temporal interests 
will benefit by his interference with others in a matter 
that principally concerns themselves. Where an ob- 
ject less worthy than the salvation of souls may be 
discerned, we may reasonably hesitate in our judgment, 
until we are satisfied that religious oppression is for 
the benefit of the suff'erer, and, when this conviction is 
arrived at, we shall not commend him who has had 
recourse to such dangerous remedies, whilst in mercy 
to future victims, we may deprive him of the power to 
injure. But the conduct of Maximus is not free from 
the most sinister interpretation. Whilst, in maintain- 
ing the true orthodox faith, he might disarm the 
enmity, and perhaps gain the alliance of Theodosius, 
the young Valentinian, who was still nominally the 
emperor in Italy, belonged to the Arian communion, 
and the eyes of Maximus looked out wistfully from 
Gaul over the fertile fields of the south, from the 
possession of which he was excluded by his treaty with 
Theodosius. But, if Maximus could commend him- 
self to the good wishes of the Italians by his ser- 
vices in the orthodox cause, the heretical Valentinian 
might fall before him, almost without a struggle : so 
strong, at the latter end of the fourth century, were the 
religious feehngs on all the points of controversy which 
then agitated Europe ! 

On the part of the young emperor, no overt act had 

^' Sulpicius Severus, ii. 64, 65, 



A.D. 388.] FURTHER DESIGNS OF MAXl.MUS. 337 

yet been committed, wliicli could f'urnisli Miiximus 
with an excuse for putting his intentions in execution. 
The mihtary genius of the usurper is said to liave 
displayed itseh" whilst he was in Britain, by successfully 
repulsing an incursion of the Picts and Scots'. His 
campaign against Gratian, though it was terminated 
more by the defection of the people, than by the arms 
of the invader, yet naturally tended to augment the 
military reputation of Maximus. But, in spite of these 
advantages, the usurjier was more given to practise 
the arts of fraud tlian of force. When, by his arbitrary 
proceedings against the heretics of the West, and his 
loudly expressed indignation at the heterodox practices 
of Valentinian ", he had conceived himself sufficiently 
secure in the good will of his people, Maximus medi- 
tated how he might attain a still higher pitch of 
greatness. His ambitious mind suggested to him the 
incompleteness of the Western empire, so long as his 
hated rival possessed some of its fairest provinces, and 
he secretly planned the destruction of the prince who 
stood in the way of his designs. But, to secure the 
conquest of Italy, it was necessary that his troops 
should occupy the passes of the Alps, which are the 
natural barriers of that peninsula. 

Valentinian's war against the barbarians in Pannonia 
furnished a pretext, and Maximus urged the ambassador 
Domn'mus to receive for his master a body of troops to 
serve in the Pannonian war. " The penetralion of 
Ambrose'' had discovered the snares of an enemy under 
the professions of friendship ; but the Syrian Domni- 
nus was corrupted or deceived, by the liberal favour of 



' Prosper, Psciidnchron. .sub A.D. 382. » Il)i<,'. 38t>. 

'' The wdl-knoHi) Father of ilu; Chinrli. 



338 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX= 

the court of Treves ; and the council of Milan obsti- 
nately rejected the suspicion of danger, with a blind 
confidence, which was the effect not of courage, but of 
fear. The march of the auxiliaries was guided by the 
ambassador; and they were admitted, without distrust, 
into the fortresses of the Alps. But the crafty tyrant 
followed, with hasty and silent steps, in the rear ; and, 
as he diligently intercepted all intelligence of his 
motions, the gleam of armour, and the dust excited by 
the troops of cavalry, first announced the hostile ap- 
proach of a stranger to the gates of Milan "^." It was 
in vain for the feeble sovereign of Italy to think of 
protecting himself by arms. If there had been even 
time to make preparations for defence, the lazy soldiery 
of Italy, enfeebled by long cessation from war, would 
have wanted the inclination to meet the invaders in the 
field, even if their emperor had enjoyed the love and 
confidence of his subjects. Flight, therefore, was the 
only safety of Valentinian and his mother Justina; 
Aquileia received them within her impregnable walls, 
until a galley, which had been secretly provided, con- 
veyed them in safety to the dominions of Theodosius^ 
The eastern emperor no longer hesitated from any 
motives of public policy to oppose the progress of 
Maximus, and it has been said by liistorians, that not 
the least powerful argument which led him to espouse 
the cause of Valentinian, was the beauty of his sister 
Galla, who was a fugitive with her brother and mother. 
It happened opportunely for Theodosius that he had 
in his service a large body of barbarian auxiliaries, 
who had not laid aside their armour since they had 

" Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. xxvii. 

'' Oros. vii. 34. Prosper. Pseudocbron. Zosinius vii. 13. 



A.D. 388.] MARCH OF THEODOSIUS. 339 

become subjects of the Eastern empire, and their native 
ferocity, which was still untamed, might, with safety 
and advantage to the public, be discharged against the 
legions of Britain^, Gaul, and Germany, which had 
invaded Italy. The whole of Greece now resounded 
with the din of martial preparation, and the usurper, 
as he took his seat within the walls of Aquileia on the 
throne which he had coveted and obtained, was told 
that two armies and a numerous fleet were already on 
their way against him. Along the shores of the 
Danube marched a body of troops under the command 
of Arbogastes, who had received instructions to pene- 
trate into Gaul, whilst Theodosius himself led a second 
army through Pannonia, and a numerous fleet re- 
conveyed Valentinian and his mother the empress 
Justina to resume the throne of Italy. 

The emergency was too great for Maximus ; he was 
unable steadily to view the clouds which were breaking 
over him. In a crisis of such a nature, the safety of a 
nation or of a cause depends upon the moral energies 
of its leader. The troops of Maximus speedily par- 
took of the imbecility of their chief. Some sharp 
skirmishes took place, which ended with their throwing 
down their arms before the superior generalship of 
Theodosius. The citizens of ^mona had alone re- 
mained faithful to the cause of Valentinian, and had 
reaped the reward of their loyalty in being closely 
besieged by Maximus. The victory of Theodosius 
delivered them from further danger ; but the emperor, 
without waiting to receive their thanks, pressed after 
Maximus, who fled as he approached. The walls 
of Aquileia, impregnable when manned by a faithful 
garrison, were unable to defend an usurping and 

' Sozomen, Hisu Eccles. vii. 13. 

z 2 



340 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XX. 

coward tyrant from the wrath of a legitimate and 
victorious emperor. Maximus was seized and hurried 
into the presence of Theodosius : a brief sentence was 
passed upon him, and when the head of the usurper 
rolled in the dust, Theodosius felt that Heaven, and 
not his own arms, had exacted full vengeance for the 
murder of Gratian ^ 

' Pacatus, Paneg. Theod. diet. A.D. 391, c. 38. Aurel. Victor, 
c. 48. Orosius, c. 34. Prosper, Chron. A.D. 388. et Pseudo- 
chron. A.D. 388, 



CHAP. XXI. 



BRITAIN EXHAUSTED BY SUCCESSIVE EMIGRATIONS — THEODOSIUS- 
CHRTSANTHUS VICEROT OF BRITAIN— ARCADIUS AND H0N0RIU3 
EMPERORS — STILICHO — PICTS AND SCOTS — MARCUS, AND GRATIAN 
MDNICEPS, TYRANTS IN BRITAIN, SLAIN BY THEIR SOLDIERS — CON- 
STANTINE EMPEROR IN BRITAIN— CONQUERS GAUL AND SPAIN — 
IS SLAIN BY CONSTANTIUS. 



It is the lot of him who traces the history of Britain 
through the obscurity of tlie first five centuries, to be 
continually drawn from his subject, according as the 
many adventurers, whose fortunes took their rise from 
this island, despising the narrow limits of insular 
sovereignty, take flight successively to the continent, as 
a nobler arena on which to contend for empire. Of 
the tyrants, as they are invidiously denominated by 
the arrogance of the Roman writers, who arose in 
Britain, Carausius alone had the wisdom to discern the 
advantages which an island possesses, and the security 
which the intervening sea affords as a protection against 
foreign enemies. 

The continual drain of its population in the service 
of Rome, had ever been an obstacle to Britain's great- 
ness. We cannot consider the island to have contained, 
in the times which we are speaking of, more than a tenth 
part of the numbers with which it is now crowded : and 
the consequences wliich resulted from the departure of 
more than a hundred thousand persons, wlio are said 



342 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI. 

to have accompanied Maximus, can better be conceived 
than described. Neither were the emigrants chosen from 
the weaker or more useless classes of the people. They 
consisted of all the Roman soldiery, and the best and 
most vigorous of the native Britons. The loss of a 
large number of men, who have passed the prime of 
life, may be borne by a nation with comparative ease ; 
the place of the veterans is supplied by the bountiful 
elasticity of nature, by which the young grow to be 
men, and to occupy their father's places in the Senate, 
or the field of battle, and at the domestic hearth ; but 
with Maximus departed all the youth of the island, and 
an interval of many years must elapse before the loss 
of a whole generation can be supplied. 

We can yield no sympathy to the usurper Maximus. 
He is connected with Britain in no other respect than 
that he issued from it to play the dangerous game of 
empire. His son Victor, a child who might have been 
safe here, was carried by his father into Gaul, where, 
as if in mockery of the tiara, it was bound upon his 
infant brow. But Arbogastes was a stern minister of 
the commands of Theodosius : the army of the Danube 
executed the duty entrusted to them, and the child 
Victor fell a pitiable and useless sacrifice to his father's 
ambition "". 

The fate of the British army, which went with Maxi- 
mus to the continent, has always been a fertile sub- 
ject of discussion among antiquaries and historians. 
It is a long-established tradition, that this gallant host, 
surrounded on all sides by enemies, took refuge in 
Armorica, where they settled, and gave their own 
language and the name of Britain to the province 
which received them. But we cannot believe that so 
=* Prosp. Chroii. A. D. 388. Oios. vii. 34. 



A. D. 390.] RAVAGES OF THE PICTS AND SCOTS. 343 

brave an army, even if during the five years that their 
leader reigned at Treves they were kept together in the 
same state as when they first landed, could remain long 
without finding employment in some part or other of 
the empire ; and it would be a severe reproach to the 
well-known sagacity of Theodosius, if he had neglected 
to avail himself of their services. It is more probable 
that they were amalgamated with the armies of the state, 
which were at that time continually occupied in resisting 
the advances of the barbarians. 

The loss of Britain's soldiers was severely felt in the 
north, where the native tribes of Caledonia renewed 
their ravages without opposition. The whole of the 
island, in the querulous language of its first historian 
Gildas, " deprived of all her armed soldiers and military 
bands, was left to her cruel tyrants, deprived of the 
assistance of all her youth, wlio went with Maximus ; 
and, ignorant of the art of war, she groaned in amaze- 
ment for many years under the cruelty of the Picts and 
Scots *"." Their ravages were checked for a time by the 
interference of Theodosius, who was now in Gaul after 
having defeated the troops of Maximus. The courtly 
orator, who, three years afterwards, addressed a flattering 
and fulsome panegyric to the emperor, may be supposed 
to describe facts when he speaks of Batavia humbled 
in many an encounter by land, and of the Saxons driven 
from the seas by many a naval battle ; but we cannot 
believe that the emperor was present in person when 
the Scot was driven back to his native marshes '". 

The task of repelling the invaders was conmiitted to 
Chrysanthus, who, with the authority of vicar'', restored 
the island to a teniporary state of tranciuillity. 

'' Gildas, oliap. 14. ■" I'acatiis, Pancg. Thcod. diet. c. 0. 

'' Socrat. Schol. vii. 12. 



344 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI. 

There is a singular circumstance in the history of 
Chrysanthus, which would lead us to suspect that he 
was ill adapted to meet so fierce an enemy as the bar- 
barians of the North. On his quitting Britain, he 
became prefect of Constantinople, and finally succeeded 
Sisinnius in the Holy Office of Bishop ! That he was 
averse to undertake this responsibility, is testified by 
his repugnance to be elected : but the fact of his being 
thought of as a fit person for such a peaceful calling, 
seems to shew either that he was of too mild a character 
to encounter the details of a marauding warfare, or 
tliat the hierarchy of these times had already far 
departed from the principles which designated the first 
establishment of their creed. 

But the days of the whole empire were now num- 
bered, and rapidly approaching to their consummation. 
In 395, the emperor Theodosius died, leaving his 
dominions to his sons Arcadius and Honorius, who 
permanently divided them into the empires of the East 
and West. In the early part of the reign of Honorius, 
the province of Britain, by the prudence of the em- 
peror's minister Stilicho, had comparative rest from the 
incursions of the enemy ^ But when the Gothic war 

' Claudian has the following Imes on the success of Slilicho's 
arm am en is : 

Britannia then, with cheeks that wounds displav'd. 

In Caledonian monster's spoils array 'd. 

And azure dress, that o'er her footsteps waved 

Like rolling billows, thus attention crav'd. 

" On me has Stilicho oft aid bestowed, 

When neighbouring nations hostile movements shew'd ; 

The Scotch allur'd the Irish in their train. 

And Tethys foam'd with foes that ploughed the main. 

By him assisted, I their darts could dare ; 

Devoid of fear, the Pict's incursions bear; 



A.D. 388 — 407.] BRITAIN IN REVOLT. 345 

diverted the attention of the government from so remote 
a province, and the legions of Britain were called away ^ 
to defend the seat of empire from the attacks of Alaric, 
the troubles, which before distracted the province, were 
again called into fearfid operation. In addition to the 
assaults of the enemy from without, the inhabitants of 
the province were seized with a spirit of disaffection, 
which threw the whole island into tumult. We need 
not believe that Britain owed her fertility in tyrants to, 
any other law of nature than that which prompts a 
people to assert their independence, if they have the 
power: and this should be a warning to conquering 
nations not to hold in thraldom their tributaries, or to 
impose upon them conditions which may lead them to 
revert to the original laws of man. Though the 
Romans established the largest empire which the world 
had yet seen, yet the fall of their power displayed features 
which proves that those conquerors had no just ideas 
of the best means for consolidating what they had 
acquired. The several provinces, it would appear, 
continued to the last to be separate states, with little 
or no common bond to unite them, or with no other 
bond than the Roman legions which were quartered in 
the different countries. To this may be added the 
tendency of nations separated from one another by 
natural barriers, and by the difference of language, to 
break up into separate states, the extent and dimensions 
of which better enable them to carry on the affairs of 
government. The times, in which we now live, are 
perhaps better adapted than any preceding period, for 

And Saxons, wlio ihcir dubious course pursue, 
In spile of winds, u])on my borders view." 

Hawkins's Translation. 
' Claudian, De brl. Get. v. 416. &c. 



346 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI. 

trying experiments in legislation : the decay of national 
prejudices and the spread of all kinds of literature and 
science, the rapidity of intercourse between the most 
distant people, and more than all, the strong sense of 
common wants and a common interest uniting all our 
species, excite hopes that the existing generation may 
hail the introduction of a rational and humane system 
of international policy founded upon the developement 
of justice artd mutual rights. But the Roman polity, 
which began in a commonwealth, ended in a despotism, 
which never for an instant relaxed its hold over the 
lives and fortunes of subject millions. It is not, there- 
fore, to be wondered, that competitors for empire 
started up, and those generally from among the com- 
manders of the numerous armies which were maintained 
as the necessary supports of a government, having no 
community of feeling with the people in the different 
nations which formed their empire. 

In all the preceding commotions which we have 
had to notice in Britain, some leader assumed the reins 
of government with a hand sufficiently powerful to 
defend himself for a time against the opposition of the 
emperor. But now the disordered state of Britain 
caused the counsels of the revolters to be less decided. 
They first invested one Marcus with the purple, and 
for a time obeyed him as emperor : but Marcus was 
dissatisfied with the manners of his new subjects, who 
deposed and murdered him without mercy ^. 

After him they raised Gratian, surnamed Municeps, 
a native Briton, to the throne, but his reign was 
almost as short as that of his predecessor. At the end 
of four months he also was deposed, and shared the 

s Zosimus, vi. 1 — 6. Sozomen, ix, 11. 



A.D, 407.] MARCUS — GRATIAN CONSTANTINE. 347 

same fate as Marcus^. A third candidate appeared in 
the person of one Constantine, an obscure soldier, who 
perhaps had merits whicli history has omitted to 
record : but the petulance of a rebellious soldiery 
accepted the omen of his name as a proof of his wor- 
thiness to be their sovereign: and they anticipated 
from one who bore so distinguished an appellation, 
the developement of ability equal to that of Constantine 
the Great. This man, therefore, was speedily in- 
vested with the imperial robe, and received from all 
sides the acclamations of the soldiers \ But the fate 
of his predecessors was a lesson to Constantine, that he 
should lose no time in securing himself against the 
disorderly elements which he was called upon to govern; 
and he seems not to have been deficient in discern- 
ment as to the best course to adopt, or in promptness 
to carry his plan into execution. The distractions 
and even the calamities of war have often been the 
means of diverting the rebellious spirit of an army 
and of a nation. Constantine saw at once the neces- 
sity of finding employment for his men, and he deter- 
mined without delay to lengthen his chance of life by 
extending his precarious sovereignty beyond the narrow 
limits of Britain. In pursuance of this resolution, and 
with the example of Maximus before his eyes, he lost 
no time in transporting his army to the coast of Gaul. 

^ Orosius, c. 40. Zosiimis, vi. 1 — 6. Sozomcii, ix. II. <')lyin- 
piodorus apnd Photiiiiii. 

' For the history of Constantine, see the lollovving authorities: 
Olympiod. ap. Photium. Oros, c. 40, 42. Zoshniis, v. 27. 43. vi. 2. 
Sozoin. ix. 11, Prosp. Chron. et Pseudochron. Procopius [Bell. Van. 
i. 2.|] calls Constantino ovk dcjiavrj iivbpa, " a man far from obscnro," 
hut the authority of F'roco])ius is of no weight in such a mailer. 



348 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI. 

The troops landed at the port of Boulogne, where they 
halted several days : after which Constantine erected 
his standard as sovereign of the Western empire. An 
extraordinary success attended this bold enterprise. 
The provincials of Gaul, harassed by the barbarous 
tribes who roamed over the country and plundered in 
all directions, hailed with satisfaction the hope of a 
deliverance, and ranged themselves under the standard 
of a Roman emperor. His two prefects, Justin and 
Neviogastes, commenced without delay a campaign 
against the roving bands of Germans, some of which 
by arras, and others by more dubious treaties, were 
brought to submission. Within a few months the whole 
of Gaul was reduced almost without struggle to obedi- 
ence, and on all sides success seemed to smile upon 
the cause of the fortunate adventurer. 

These successes emboldened Constantine to persist 
in his plans of conquest. In the early part of the 
year 408, the emperor Arcadius died, and was suc- 
ceeded in the throne of the east by Theodosius II. 
This event probably had its share in distracting the 
attention of the legitimists from the encroachment 
which a rebel was making on their dominions. 

But the Western empire, nominally governed by the 
feeble Honorius, was still protected by the arms of 
Stilicho, whilst it trembled daily at the threats of its 
formidable enemy Alaric the Goth. At the same 
moment messengers arrived at Ravenna, reporting the 
revolt of Constantine, and the rumoured death of 
Alaric. Stilicho, in disappointment at being obliged 
to desist from his Illyrian expedition, proceeded to 
Rome, that he might concert what should be done to 
oppose the revolt beyond the Alps. 



A.D. 408.] CAMPAIGN IN GAUL. 349 

As the result of his deUberations, Stilicho dispatched 
Sarus into Gaul, with orders to bring the head of the 
usurper. 

This general first encountered Justin, one of the 
prefects of Constantine, and having slain him, together 
with the greater part of his men, he marched to 
besiege Valentia, in which he had heard that Constan- 
tine was residing at that time. The other prefect, 
Neviogastes, came to a parley with Sarus, and trusting 
too much to the plausible and specious behaviour of 
that general, was treacherously seized and put to 
death, imploring the faith of violated treaties. But 
Constantine speedily supplied the place of the de- 
ceased prefects, by appointing Edovinchus, a Frank, 
and Count Gerontius, a Briton, to the vacant dignity; 
and Sarus, dreading the military experience of the new 
officers, abandoned Valentia after a siege of seven 
days. He was not, however, suffered to retire unmo- 
lested : the commanders of Constantine attacked him 
with the greatest vigour; nor did he escape, until he 
gave up the whole of the booty which he had taken to 
the Bacaudi, who met him at the passes of the Alps, 
that he might secure a safe return into Italy. Sarus 
being thus disposed of, Constantine turned his atten- 
tion to secure his territories by garrisons and military 
posts from similar invasions. For these dangerous 
passes often offered a path to the barbarians, who, 
availing themselves of these natural inlets, had, 
within the memory of Constantine himself, covered 
Gaul with the desolating effects of a civil wai\ 
The banks of the Rhine formed, more or less, in all 
ages the natural barrier of the Romans against the 
barbarians, and the assumption of the imperial title 
entailed the necessary task of defending the frontiers 



350 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. fCH. XXI 



on an usurper as well as on a legitimate prince. The 
next step, therefore, which Constantine took, was to 
secure the line of that large stream which divides the 
Gallic from the Teutonic tribes, and this work must 
have been attended with no little difficulty, for ever 
since the time of Julian, all the defences of that frontier 
had been neglected. 

Thus every thing in Gaul seemed to end happily for 
Constantine ; who now proposed to render hereditary 
the empire which he had gained. His eldest son, 
Constans, throwing off the sacerdotal habit which he 
had worn, and issuing from the cloister, renounced the 
hopes of a heavenly kingdom for the more tangible 
possession of that which he saw awaiting him. He was 
clothed in the purple robe, and saluted by the name of 
Csesar, after which he set out for Spain, that he might 
bring that large peninsula under the dominion of his 
father; for the relations of Honorius had large pos- 
sessions and much influence in that country, and 
Constantine was fearful of an invasion from that quarter 
at the same time that the army of Italy should enter 
Gaul on the other side. Constans therefore departed 
for Spain, having Terentius as his general and Apol- 
linarius prefect of the Praetorium, besides judges and 
other officers both civil and military, by whose means 
he proposed to bring the peninsula into a state of 
obedience and good government. The province of 
Spain was, at this time, in as bad a condition as the 
rest of the empire, and no opposition would have been 
made to Constans, had it not been for the family of 
Theodosius. Four young men, brothers, are mentioned 
as having particularly distinguished themselves ; Theo- 
dosius, Lagodius, Didymus, and Verinianus at the head 
of the regular troops of Lusitania, had from the very 



A.D. 408.] DEATH OF STILICHO. 351 

beginning of Constantine's career opposed all his 
attempts to subjugate their country. But, finding the 
regular troops either unable or unwilling to maintain 
the war, they followed the example of the ancient family 
of the Fabii, and arming their own tenants and vassals, 
very nearly reduced Constans to the most imminent 
danger. But the father of Constans at this crisis sent 
to the aid of his son a body of barbarian troops, named 
the Honorian band^ by whose means the war was 
speedily brought to a termination. Theodosius and 
Lagodius escaped, the one into Italy, the other to the 
East : but their less fortunate brothers, Didymus and 
Verinianus, were taken prisoners by the enemy. 

All these events happened within little more than 
twelve months "^ after Constantine first assumed the 
purple, and many circumstances happened to assist him 
in his views. About the time that Constans returned 
to Gaul carrying with him the captive relatives of 
Honorius, the celebrated Stilicho died at Ravenna, on 
the 23d of August, A.D. 408, and Alaric, of whose 
death a false report had been spread, was still alive, 
threatening the emperor with the effects of his wrath, 
and preventing him from sending against Constantine 
those armies which would soon be wanted for the 
defence of Italy. But the good fortune or policy of 
Constantine, while it favoured the progress of his arms, 
threw a specious veil over the inactivity of Honorius. 
The usurper, in the true style of an eastern despot, 
sent an embassy of eunuchs to Ravenna, entreating 
forgiveness for having accepted the empire, as it had 
been forced upcjn him by the soldiery, against his own 
free will. Honorius listened with readiness to a plea 

'' Coiislaiiliiic was jiroclaiuuKl emperor in 407, and lln^ Spanish 
campaign occupied pari of the \ car 408. 



352 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI. 

of necessity, which he could have answered by one as 
strong on his own side ; for whilst he knew that his 
relations Didymus and Verinianus were captives in the 
hands of the usurper, he felt conscious that the fear of 
Alaric must prevent him from engaging in a more 
distant warfare. 

In the mean time Constans, leaving Gerontius com- 
mander in Spain, and committing the passes of the 
Pyrenees to the Celtic troops rather than to the native 
soldiers, returned to his father s coiu't, caiTying with 
him Didymus and Verinianus. Tlie unhappy brothers 
being brought before Constantioe, were immediately 
put to death, an act of cruelty, which seems to have 
been dictated by no necessity of state, and was al'ter- 
wards amply avenged. 

The perpetration of this bloody deed did not however 
prevent Constantine from pursuing his ambition by all 
the modes which perfidy could suggest : and his hands 
were still wet with the blood of his victims, when he 
was secretly corresponding with the emperor whose 
kinsmen he had murdered. To secure from Honorius 
a formal recognition of his imperial title was an object 
which Constantine was eager to obtain, as a step, 
probably, for pursuing at a future opportunity the same 
policy which had guided his predecessor Maximus, and 
driving Honorius out of Italy. 

For the prosecution of these views, Jovius, a man of 
erudition, and many natural endowments, appeared, in 
the beginning of the year 409, at the court of Ravenna. 
He requested in the name of his master that the treaty 
which had formerly been made should be renewed, and 
asked forgiveness for the murder of Didymus and 
Verinianus. His plea was, that they had not been 
murdered at the instigation of Constantine ; and when 



A.D. 410.] REVOLT OF THE EUROPEAN STATES. 353 

he saw that Honorius was affected by the mention of 
them, the ambassador craftily insinuated that the weight 
of his Itahan concerns would fully justify his forbearing 
at present to shew his indignation against the authors 
of the deed, and that, if the emperor would allow him 
to convey to Constantine the happy intelligence of his 
condescension, and that there would be peace between 
them, he would speedily return with all the forces of 
Britain, Spain, and Gaul, to assist in quelling the 
disturbances in Italy and Rome. These terms were 
too favourable to be rejected, and Jovius was suffered 
to depart. 

But the course of Constantine's prosperity, which had 
maintained itself against all the machinations of his 
enemies, was now to receive a shock from the treason 
of one of his own officers. After the death of Didymus 
and Verinianus, Constans returned to Spain, carrying 
with him Justus as his general. Count Gerontius, who 
had been left in command, was offended at this act, 
and having gained over the soldiers there, urged the 
barbarians in Gaul also to revolt. To check this 
rebellion was no easy task, for the greatest part of 
Constantine's troops were in Spain, so that the bar- 
barians beyond the Rhine ravaged the whole country 
without opposition. In Britain also the inhabitants 
rose up, and revolting from the Romans, began from 
that time to live in a state of independence. Armorica 
and other provinces followed their example, and, expel- 
ling the Roman prefects, defended themselves from the 
barbarians as well as they were able, and each separate 
state set up a form of government for itself. To this 
conduct they were instigated by Honorius himself, who 
wrote letters to the cities in Britain, urging them to 
provide for their own safety, whilst he indulged himself, 



354 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXI, 

according to the natural bent of his disposition, in all 
the indolence of royalty ^ 

At the latter end of the next year"", the death of 
Alaric released Honorius from his fears, and the state 
of Gaul seemed now to afford him a favourable oppor- 
tunity for vindicating his despised sovereigntyo The 
monarch, who has private wrongs, as well as public 
justice to avenge, will sooner or later find an oppor- 
tunity of making his power be felt, and ConstantinCy 
like many other usurpers '', could not hope to find mercy 
from him who only by compulsion had conceded to him 
the royal title. The brave count Gerontius, despising 
the empty honours of the diadem, or sensible of its 
uncertainty, bestowed the title of emperor on one 
Maximus, of whom this fact is all that has been re- 
corded. Leaving his friend to reign in the peninsula, 
Gerontius followed Constans, who fled across the 
Pyrenees into Gaul, and taking the unhappy "Csesar 
prisoner, put him to death at Vienna, whilst Constan- 
tine, his father, besieged within the city of Arles^was 
unable to march to his assistance. At this moment, 
when apparently nothing could save the city from being 
taken, the besiegers and the besieged were both assailed 
by the army sent from beyond the Alps by Honorius. 
That emperor, arousing for a time out of his habitual 
lassitude, and profiting by the breathing-time which 
the northern barbarians allowed him, saw that his first 
object was to remove the rebellious aspirants to the 
purple, by whom the exertions of his subjects against the 
common enemy were so fatally distracted. The task 
of crushing the revolters in Gaul and Spain was com- 

i Zosimus vi. 10. ™ A.D. 411. 

" We may instance, in our limes, the case of Napoleon in his 
relations with the Court of Vienna. 



A.D. 411.] COXSTANTINE IS SLAIN. 3-55 

mitted to Count Constantius, and " the republic," says 
Orosius, — with more of irony than of truth, though the 
writer did not feel it, — at length experienced the advan- 
tage of having a native Roman for her general, in con- 
trast with the evils she had suffered from having her 
armies commanded by counts of barbarian origin ". 

The approach of Constantius struck terror into both 
parties. The troops of Gerontius rose upon their leader, 
who fled towards Spain, but shortly afterwards fell a 
victim to their fury. But the besieged had no reason 
to triumph in the dispersal of their enemies. The 
newly-arrived army continued the hostilities which had 
been commenced by Gerontius. The interval, however, 
afforded a brief respite, and Edobic, the ambassador 
whom Constantine had sent for assistance, returned 
with an army to raise the siege. He was met and 
defeated by Constantius, and the disappointed tyrant, 
who had now been shut up four months in the walls 
of his capital, turned his thoughts to propitiate by 
treaty the wrath of the victor. He obtained from the 
enemy a promise of pardon, which he endeavoured to 
confirm by taking Holy Orders, and under the sup- 
posed protection of the Sacerdotal character, committed 
himself to the keeping of Constantius. The victorious 
general was so far true to his word, that he respected 
the life of his captive, and sent him to the emperor in 
Italy : but Constantine never came into the presence 
of the sovereign whom he had so long defied and 
deceived : for before he reached the palace at Ravenna, 
he met " the ministers of death '." 

" Oros. c. 42. 

P Constantine was put lo death on the It^lh of September, A.D. 
411. See Sosimus, Olyinpiodoru.s, Sozomen.and Renulns Fris^eiidtis 
apud Gregorium Tm-onensem. 

A a2 



CHAP. XXIL 



BRITAIN AGAIN FREE— GOVERNED BY HER NATIVE EULERS—NOT ABLE 
TO ENJOT THE PRIVILEGE OF FREEDOM — THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 

ALREADY CORRUPTED— THE ARIAN HERESY THE PELAGIAN 

HERESY — GERMANUS AND LUPUS COME FROM GAUL. 



After five hundred years of warfare or of servitude, 
Britain was again free. The letters of Honorius were 
a sufficient testimony to the independence of the island; 
extorted, we may admit, more from the helplessness 
than the good-will of the Roman government. But 
the amicable nature of the separation spares us the 
painful recital of animosity and bloodshed, which have 
marked nearly all other struggles between a dominant 
people and its tributaries. 

The gift of liberty came, however, too late for a nation 
which had passed the crisis of national existence, as 
the fresh air may be admitted in vain to the respiration 
of the patient whose lungs are smitten with an incur- 
able disease. 

In an edict "" issued by Honorius, the seven provinces 
of Gaul are commanded to send deputies to Aries the 
capital, to consult and provide for their common 
benefit; but the precious seeds of freedom cannot be 

^ See the edict in Sivmoiid, Not. ad Sidon. ApoUin. p. 147. 



BRITAIN IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 357 

cast carelessjy on a soil that has not been prepared to 
receive them; and whilst the emperor wondered at the 
indifference with which the people received the valued 
gilt, they may have viewed the boon with the same 
suspicion which always accompanies the bounties of a 
tyrant. 

A nation, left to its own resources, must necessarily 
establish some form of government, if only to protect 
them from the evils of anarchy; but the exact form 
which the administration will assume, depends prin- 
cipally upon other circumstances, often as much the 
result of accident as design. The commercial tend- 
ency^ of Great Britain is of modern gTowth, for until 
a recent date its inhabitants have been engaged almost 
exclusively in the pursuits of agriculture and the 
pasturing of cattle. The first view of Britain, opened 
to the contemplation of the world by the invasion of 
Julius Csesar, displays a picture of rustic and pastoral 
life; the population were equally dispersed over the 
surface of the island, and their towns were rude for- 
tresses erected on eminences or in the depths of the 
forest, affording no temptations of residence or home, 
except when the people fled to them for protection 
from an enemy. 

During the dominion of the Romans, cities would 
naturally arise, with the increase and growth of luxury 
and refinement which always attend on the progress of 
a conquering people. It is probable that these cities 
were erected on the same sites where the rude log- 
fortresses of the Britons had formerly stood. Yet the 

'' Uniil the present, or the end ol" the hist century, the connnerce 
of the country was almost entirely in the hands ol" ihc Flemings, 
Lombards, French, and other foreigners, refugees, or residents in 
this country. 



358 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

remains of these which have passed down to posterity, 
or have been turned up in our own times by the opera- 
tions of the plough, are insignificant monuments of tlie 
Roman name, and not worthy to be compared with 
the Cyclopean walls of Argos and Mycense, or the 
Colossian relics of Paestum, Carnac, and Agrigentum. 
The patient labours of the antiquary and topogra- 
pher may produce many facts illustrative of the details 
of Roman architecture, which however throw little 
light upon the general view which history delights to 
tal^e, and give us little practical information concern- 
ing the municipal privileges of towns, their population, 
public buildings, laws, customs, and jurisprudence. 
The most striking memorials of the Roman dominion 
in Britain are their military roads, which traverse the 
island in different directions, going, like the people 
who constructed them, straight to their mark, and sur- 
mounting all the difficulties of the country with the 
same perseverance vi^bich bent so many nations beneath 
the Roman yoke. These military ways are almost the only 
public remains of the Roman rule. The spade even now 
continually disinters some remnant of a Roman villa, but 
nothing like a connected series of houses has yet been 
found to give us the most remote idea of a Roman city. 
And yet in the Itineraries of Antonine, and of the Monk 
of Cirencester, we meet with a long enumeration of towns, 
cities, and military stations, which seem to belong to a 
populous and flourishing kingdom '. In the notice of 
the Eastern and Western empires ^ is an enumeration 

' For move particular information concerning the Roman topo- 
graphy of Britain, the reader must consult Camden's Britannia, 
Horsley's Britain, Gough's Topography, and other similar works. 

■^ Notitia utriusque imperii. The extracts from this work which 
concern Britain will be found in the " PIistorical Documents," 
p. 175. 



A. D. 410.] BRITAIN INDEPENDENT. 359 

of titles and dignities belonging to the officers who 
had the charge of protecting the provinces and sea- 
coast of Britain : a summary of the legions and cohorts 
of soldiers quartered in the island, and the stations 
which they occupied. But a military people seldom 
leave durable monuments of art behind them. The 
turning of the sod, by which a Roman camp was pro- 
tected, would alone point out its site, when the troops, 
who fortified it, had departed to other scenes of action. 
The Gothic nations of the middle ages, among whom 
conquest was synonymous with the occupation of land 
and the erection of fortified residences upon it, have 
alone left behind them those gigantic castles, which seem 
calculated to endure as long as the solid rock from 
which they were hewn. 

But the letters of Honorius, by which the inde- 
pendence of the island was conceded, were addressed to 
the cities of Britain", and we gather from the general 
tenour of the ancient authorities that these amounted 
to thirty-three in number', and that there were altogether 
ninety-two towns which had arrived at considerable 
importance^'. It is hard to conceive that the magni- 
tude even of the cities in Britain would entitle them 
to a comparison with those of Gaul or Italy; for the 
troubled period of the Roman dominion was little 
favourable to the increase of towns or of population. 
Neither do an agricultural or pastoral people readily 

' The few remarks which G'bbon has devoted to ihis subject, shew 
that he grasped the truth as usual with wonderful accuracy of dis- 
crimination. See Zosimus, vi. 10. 

' These cities are enumerated in some of the MSS. of Neniiius; 
but this writer is so interpolated, that nothing must be taken lor 
granted, whicli rests on his authority alone. 

8 Richard of Cirencester. 



360 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

consent to be crowded into the confined streets of towns 
and cities. If therefore a portion of the British people 
were in the possession of municipal rights whenHonorius 
released them from the last feeble restraint of the 
Roman supremacy, it is probable that the greater part 
of them were still scattered throughout the country 
under the dominion of petty rulers or priests, and 
living in a state somewhat similar to that of their an- 
cestors, when they were disturbed by the invasion of 
Julius Csesar. The different classes then of the British 
people presented the germs of distinct principles of 
government. Cities have always inclined to a demo- 
cratic bias, whilst the country population, living at a 
distance from one another, and assembling with diffi- 
culty to discuss matters of common interest, have 
generally fallen under the influence of their nobles, 
each of whom exercises almost absolute power over 
the inhabitants of his own neighbourhood. But the 
government of chiefs depicts a nation but half emerged 
from barbarism, and it is to be feared that the state of 
Britain, when it was abandoned by the Romans, was 
the more unfavourable for separate existence and self- 
defence, because its people had become unable to wield 
the rude weapons and practise the simple warfare 
of their forefathers, whilst from the prudence of their 
conquerors they had not acquired the more regular 
knowledge of the military art. 

The introduction of Christianity is said to have pro- 
duced a great amelioration of manners and of social 
life throughout the whole of Europe. But Britain 
profited less by it than the rest of the world. Con- 
tinued wars with the barbarians, and the numerous 
rebellions against the emperor's authority which took 
their rise in Britain, must have acted as antidotes 



A.D. 413 429.] PELAGIAN HERESY. 361 

against the humanizing influences of rehgion : and a 
diligent study of ecclesiastical history will lead to the 
conclusion, that when the tenets of the mild and gentle 
Jesus reached Britain, they had become fearfully 
amalgamated with the strife of doctrine, and the 
animosity which religious controversy has never failed 
to engender. The Britons in particular were not back- 
ward to enter the arena of polemical theology, and 
the whole island was thrown into a state of religious revo- 
lution, even when the Picts and Scots were pillaging 
and murdering in all directions. So early as the be- 
ginning of the fourth century, the Arian heresy had 
found its way into Britain, and tainted large numbers 
of her sons with its pestilential breath. But in the 
next generation, our country was destined to play a 
more distinguished part in the heretical dramas which 
were at that time so frequent. 

In the fifth century, the doctrines of Pelagius, a bold 
and unscrupulous churchman, occupied the attention 
of all Europe, and drew down upon him the animad- 
version and condemnation of the orthodox. The pro- 
mulgator of this heresy is said to have been a Welsh- 
man, named Morgan, who changed his name, which 
in his native tongue signified the '■' Sea," into the more 
classic appellation Pelagius, a word which in Greek 
bears the same signification. It would be unsafe to 
assert this etymology as an historic fact, because it 
depends on the sole testimony of modern writers ; but 
we have the best evidence to prove, that Pelagius was 
by birth a Briton '' ; and St. Augustin adds, that he was 
called Pelagius the Briton, to distinguish him from 
another Pelagius of Tarentum. The success with 

'' Jerome, Prosper, Augustin, Orosiii?, uiul Fiedc, all stale llia( 
Pelagius was a Briton. 



362 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

which he propagated his doctrines argues Pelagius to 
have been a man of talent; and though the virulence 
of his enemies has heaped upon his heresy all the 
abuse which language can furnish, yet nothing has 
been brought forwards against his practice and conduct, 
or subversive of the fundamental laws of morality. 
Before Pelagius became known as the author of the 
heresy which bears his name, he had already acquired 
reputation by his writings ; and a Treatise on " Faith in 
the Holy Trinity in three books," whilst it deceived the 
most orthodox teachers, was held in so much esteem, 
that it was deemed a necessary portion of an orthodox 
library'. A work of " Eulogies, taken out of the 
Divine Scriptures," also attested the literary talents of 
the young heresiarch. When Pelagius began to 
entertain heterodox opinions, we have no means of 
ascertaining ; but he first comes into notice as a teacher 
of unsound doctrine about the year 405 ; and so great 
was the alarm occasioned in the Church by the tendency 
of his tenets, that within ten years, they were publicly 
condemned at Rome and Carthage. But the agitation 
which this controversy produced was felt only on the 
surface of society. The monks and clergy, who pass 
their lives in the contemplation of such questions, will 
always be roused by an attempt to disturb the modes 
of belief which are the axioms of their profession, but 
the people at large took little part in a dispute which 
was above their comprehension. We should probably 
have known as little of the peculiar doctrines of Pelagius, 
as of the mysteries of Isis or of Samothrace, if all the 
history of the times had not come down to us from the 
pen of ecclesiastics, who have magnified the most 

' Tres uecessarios libros, is ihe expression of Gennadius, Catal. 
viv. ill. 



A.D. 413 429.] PELAGIUS CELESTIUS. 363 

trifling circumstance connected with the Church, to the 
comparative neglect of other subjects which have at 
other times been deemed equally worthy to be recorded 
in the pages of the historian. 

For this reason we possess a full account of the 
nature of the doctrines which were condemned by the 
censures of the Church. Pelagius maintained, that 
every man is inclined to do what is right by his own 
free will, and that each received grace from God in 
proportion to his merits : that tlie sin of Adam affected 
Adam only, and had no influence over his descendants ; 
that every one, therefore, at his own pleasure may be 
free from sin ; that infants just born are as free from 
taint as Adam was before he transgressed, and on this 
account are baptized, not that they may be purified 
from sin, but that they may be honoured by the sacra- 
ment of adoption's In advocating these views, Pelagius 
used so much subtilty as almost to deceive the saintly 
and orthodox Augustin. '" He was in the habit of 
putting forth his opinions under the form of queries ; 
suggested, as he insinuated, by others relative to certain 
doctrines of the Church. He was also accustomed to 
ingratiate himself with ladies of influence and fortune, 
whose judgment and knowledge bore no proportion to 
their zeal '." 

The friend and companion of Pelagius was Celestius, 
an Irish monk, " an untaught columniator/' adds St. 
Jerome "j " a stolid and stupid man, heavy with his 
Scottish porridge :" but the abuse of the pious father 
shews less the demerits of Celestius than the debase- 
ment of the age in which he lived. In company with 



'' Prosper Chron. ' Thackeray, vol. ii. p. 125. 

■" Prol. lib. i. in Jereni. 



364 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

Celestius, the travels of Pelagius were extended over a 
great part of civilized Europe, and we may gather from 
the violence of their enemies, more than from direct 
testimony, the relative parts which each discharged in 
the work of propagating their opinions. " Pelagius is 
silent among us," says the Father of the Church of 
Hippo ; " elsewhere he vents his calumnies : he sends 
into all the world his missive volumes, once worth their 
weight in gold, but now charged with poisons. — Silent 
himself, he employs that Alpine dog to bark for him, 
that big and burly dog, fit more to fight with his heels 
than with his teeth. His birth is derived from the 
Scots, a people near the Britons, and he ought, accord- 
ing to the fables of the poets, to be smitten like 
Cerberus with the spiritual club, that he may sink with 
his master Pluto into eternal silence "." 

Another companion and disciple of Pelagius was 
Julian, and with the assistance of these two, it is certain 
that a large number ° of persons were drawn away from 
the orthodox belief. In disseminating his opinions, 
Pelagius was indefatigable, and his travels extended 
over Italy, Africa, and the East, where at one time he 
encountered the hostility, and at another received the 
welcome, of the native Churches. In opposition to the 
new doctrines, numberless learned and laborious trea- 
tises were written on behalf of orthodoxy. Orosius, a 
Spanish presbyter and author of an historical work 
still extant, exerted himself in the defence of the true 
faith at the council of Jerusalem p, and his praise is 
recorded in the writings of St. Augustin*^. Prosper 

" Id. Prol. lib. iii. in Jerem. " Prosp. Chron. A. D. 413. 

p A. D. 415. 

•J " Venit ad me religiosus juvenis, calholica pace (rate)-, setale 
filiiis, honore compresb} ter noster Orosius." Aug. Epis. 28. 



A.D. 413 429.] FASTIDIUS AND FAUSTUS. 365 

also of Aquitaine takes the same side, and brings the 
weapons of versification to assail the heretical Briton. 

A scribbler vile, as commonly is said. 
Against Augiistin raised his snake-like head; 
In caverns lurking, from the light conceal'd. 
The cmining reptile stood at last reveal'd. 
Among the sea-green Britons he was fed. 
Or in Campania's plains the snake was bred. 
Let him bring forih, exposed to public view. 
His cherished maxims, be they old or new. 
In sinuous folds his coiling length he bends. 
And couching low his head from foes defends ; 
On asps and basilisks in vain shall tread. 
The aged Saint shall bruise the viper's head"'. 

Mid-way between the conflicting doctrines of Au- 
gustin and Pelagius stood the sect of the Semipelagians, 
who held, with the Orthodox, that an inward assisting 
" grace is necessary to enable a man to go through all 
the harder steps of religion ; but with that they thought 
that the first turn or conversion of the will to God was 
the effect of a man's own free choice '." 

This middle doctrine is said to have been held by 
two eminent ecclesiastics, Fastidius and Faustus', who, 
like Pelagius, were natives of Britain ; for in the be- 
ginning of the fifth century, when every other depart- 
ment of life was smitten with a dearth of eminent men, 
the Church seems to have been most prolific ; and it 
appears from the concurrent testimony of succeeding 

' Prosper, P^pig. col. 193. 194. ' Thackeray, vol. ii. p. 135. 

' " Fastidius," says Gennadius, " wrote a hook, which he addressed 
to one Fatalis, and its doctrines were sound and good. 

Fauslus was abbat of Lirins in the early half of the fiflh century, 
and afterwards Bishop of Riez. Sidonius Apollinaris says, [Ep. ix. 
3 — 9.] that he spoke better than he was taught, and lived better than 
he spoke. 



366 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. XXII. 

writers, that whilst few had courage to draw the sword 
in behalf of those legitimate objects of protection, their 
lives, their liberties, and their country, none hesitated 
to buckle on the armour of religious disputation, and 
to defend that truth which, when undefended, is the 
strongest. 

The pernicious doctrines of Pelagius extended over 
all Europe, and in the year 429, or, as Bede reminds 
us, " only a few years before the coming of the Saxons'^," 
they had reached Britain, and sadly corrupted the faith 
of its inhabitants. The charge of having introduced 
the heresy into this island has been laid against Agri- 
cola, son of Severian, a Pelagian Bishop''; but the 
inconsistency which marks the language of our Vene- 
rable Historian renders it doubtful, how far the con- 
tamination had extended in the British Church. For 
notwithstanding that the taint had sadly corrupted the 
faith of the Britons, he proceeds to inform us that " they 
absolutely refused to embrace a doctrine, so perverse 
and so blasphemous, against the grace of Christ, and 
not being able of themselves to confute its subtilty by 
force of argument, they wisely determined to crave aid 
of the Gallican prelates in that spiritual warfare." As 
these statements cannot both be exactly true, as applied 
to the same persons, we must suppose that a portion of 
the Britons sided with the Pelagian teachers, and 
the rest took part against them. Upon receiving the 
message of the Britons, the Bishops of Gaul assembled 
a synod, and considered what was best to be done to 
aid their brethren in Britain. After due deliberation, 
they made choice of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, 
and Lupus of Troyes, to go into Britain, and confirm it 
in the true faith. The narrative of their mission is 

" Bede, Eccles. Hist. ^ Prosper Chron. A.D. 429. 



A.D. 429.] MISSION OF GERMANUS. 367 

known to us from the pen of Venerable Bede, to whose 
merit it may be said that he was remarkably diligent in 
investigating the truth, and that, though credulous in 
miracles, which was the fault of his times, he carefully 
gives his authorities for all the wonders that he has 
recorded, and never tells us that he ever witnessed, 
with his own eyes, any thing which goes beyond the 
usual course of nature. The mission of Germanus and 
Lupus, with all its miracles and wonders, is told by our 
venerable Historian as follows : 

" ^The prelates readily complied with the wishes and 
commands of the Holy Church, and putting to sea'', 
sailed half-way over from Gaul to Britain with a fair 
wind. There they were suddenly obstructed by the 
power of malevolent daemons, which were jealous that 
such men should be sent to bring back the Britons to 
the faith, and raised storms in the air, and covered the 
sky with clouds to oppose them. The sails of their 
ship could not bear the fury of the winds, and the skill 
of the sailors was forced to give way : the ship was 
sustained by prayer only, not by human strength ; and, 
as it happened, their spiritual commander and bishop, 
spent with weariness, had fallen asleep. Then the 
tempest, as if freed from the restraint of the only power 
that was superior to it, gathered fresh strength, and the 
ship, overpowered by the waves, was on the point of 
sinking. vSeeing this, the blessed Lupus and the others 

y Bede, Eccl. Hist. i. 17. , 

' Sigebert, as quoted by Sinnond, [not. in Concil. Gall. toni. i. p. 
86.] refers the voyage of Germanus to the year 446, Prosper to 429. 
Spelman and Wilkins assign the " Council of Verulam," as it, is 
technically called, to the year 446, as being more in harmony with 
the account given by Venerable Bede; but there seems to bo as niiuli 
probabilit}- in iho one date as in the other. 



368 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

awakened their elder, that he might oppose the raging 
elements. He, shewing himself the more resolute in 
proportion to the greatness of the danger, called upon 
Christ, and having, in the name of the Holy Trinity, 
sprinkled a little water ", he quelled the raging waves, 
admonished his brother bishop, and gave encouragement 
to all on board. All then with one accord knelt down 
to prayer : the Deity heard their cry : the enemies were 
put to flight, the sea became calm, and the winds shifted 
about so as to impel them on their voyage. In this 
manner they crossed the sea, and came to a quiet 
anchorage on the wished-for shore. The people 
flocked down to the coast from all parts to receive the 
priests, whose coming had been predicted even by 
their adversaries. For the wicked spirits, which the 
priests afterwards expelled from the bodies of those 
whom they had taken possession of, declared the object 
of their terror, and made known the nature of the 
tempest, with the dangers which they had occasioned, 
and acknowledged that they had been overcome by the 
merits and authority of the saints. 

" In the mean time, the apostolical priests filled the 
island of Britain with the fame of their preaching and 
of their virtues : the word of God was daily adminis- 
tered by them, not only in the Churches but even in 
the streets and fields, so that the Catholics were every 
where confirmed, and those, who had gone astray, 
corrected. Like the Apostles, they had honour and 
authority through a good conscience, obedience to 
their doctrine through their sound learning, whilst the 
reward of virtue attended upon their numerous merits. 



" A mode of conjuration used by the magicians of the East, from 
whom it was probably introduced into Europe at an early period. 
See the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, passim. 



A.D. 429.] MISSION OF GERMANUS. 369 

Thus the generality of the people readily emhraced 
their teaching : the authors of the erroneous opinions 
kept themselves in the back-ground, and, like evil 
spirits, grieved for the loss of the people who were 
rescued from them. At length, after mature delibera- 
tion, they had the boldness to enter the lists, and 
appeared for public disputation, conspicuous for riches, 
in glittering apparel, and supported by the flattery 
of numbers; choosing rather to hazard the combat, 
than to undergo among the people the dishonour of 
having been silenced, lest they should seem, by saying- 
nothing, to condemn themselves. 

" An immense multitude was there assembled with 
their wives and children : the people stood round as 
spectators and judges ; but the parties present differed 
much in appearance : on the one side was Divine Faith; 
on the other human presumption : on the one side was 
Piety ; on the other Pride : on the one side Pelagius ; 
on the other Christ. The holy Priests, Germanus and 
Lupus, permitted their adversaries to speak first, and, 
when these had spoken for a long time, filling the ears 
with empty words, the venerable prelates then poured 
forth the torrent of their apostolical and evangelical 
eloquence. 

" Their discourse was ^interspersed with scriptural 
sentences, and they supported their most weighty 
assertions by reading the written testimonies of famous 
writers. In this manner vanity was convinced, and 
perfidy refuted ; so that, at every objection made 
against them, not being able to reply, they confessed 
their errors. The people, who were the judges, could 
scarcely refrain from violence, and signified their 
decision by loud acclamations. 

" After this, a certain man, who had the rank of tri- 
Bb 



370 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXll. 

bune, came forward with his wife, and presented his blind 
daughter, ten years of age, for the priests to cure. 
They ordered her to be first set before the adversaries ; 
but these, convicted by a guilty conscience, joined their 
prayers to those of the child's parents, and entreated 
that she might be cured. The priests therefore, per- 
ceiving the submission of their adversaries, made a 
short prayer, and Germanus, full of the Holy Ghost, 
invoked the Trinity, and taking into his hands a casket 
containing relics of saints, which hung about his neck, 
applied it to the girl's eyes, which were immediately 
delivered from darkness, and filled with the light of 
truth. The parents rejoiced, and the people were 
astonished at the miracle^ after which, the wicked 
opinions were so fully obliterated from the minds of 
all, that they ardently embraced the doctrine of the 
priests. 

" This damnable heresy being thus suppressed, and 
the authors thereof confuted, the hearts of all the 
people were confirmed in the purity of the faith, and 
the priests repaired to the tomb of St. Alban the mar- 
tyr, to give thanks, through him, to Almighty God. 
There Germanus, having with him relics of all the 
apostles, and of several martyrs, ofiered up his prayers 
to God, and commanded the tomb to be opened, that 
he might lay up the precious gifts ; judging it fitting 
that the limbs of saints which had been brought 
together from different countries, as their equal merits 
had procured them admission into heaven, should be 
preserved in one tomb. When these had been honour- 
ably deposited and laid together, he took up to carry 
away with him a parcel of dust from the place where 
the martyrs' blood had been shed, wherein the blood 
having been retained, it appeared that the slaughter of 



A. D. 429.] MISSION OF GERMANUS. .'^ 1 

the martyrs had communicated a redness to it, whilst 
the persecutor was struck pale. 

" In consequence of these things, an innumerable 
multitude of persons was that day converted to the 
Lord. 

" After this, as they were returning from the place, 
Germanus fell and broke his leg, by the contrivance of 
the devil"*, who did not know that, like Job, his merits 
must be enhanced by the affliction of his body. 
Whilst he was detained there some time by the effects 
of this accident, a fire broke out in an adjoining 
cottage; and having burnt down the other houses 
which were thatched with reed, was carried by the 
wind to the dwelling in which Germanus was lying. 
The people all flocked together, and entreated the 
prelate that they might lift him in their arms and save 
him from the impending danger. He, however, 
rebuked them, and, relying on faith, would not suffer 
himself to be removed. The multitude, in despair, 
ran to oppose the conflagration ; but, for the greater 
manifestation of the Divine power, whatever the crowd 
tried to save, was burnt, but whatever was under the 
protection of the infirm and disabled man, the flames 

" Nothing can be more extravagantly puerile, or glaringly incon- 
sistent, than the records of the miracles wrought by the Saints. At 
one moment these holy men eject Satan from a person possessed ; 
and at the next moment they suffer themselves from his devices. 
The poet Ennius says justly, in allusion to such pretenders, 
Non habeo denique nauci Marsum augurem, 
Non vicinos haruspices, non de circo astrologos, 
Non Isiacos conjectores, non inteipretes somiiiftm. 
Non enim sunt ii aut scientia aut arte diviiii, 
Sed superstitiosi vates impudentesque harioli, 
Aut inertes, aut insani, aut quibus cgestas imporat, 
Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monslraiit viam. 

B b2 



372 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

avoided, sparing the house which gave entertainment 
to the Saint, and raging furiously on every side of it, 
whilst the house, in which he lay, remained untouched 
amid the general conflagration. The multitude, re- 
joicing in the miracle, praised the almighty power of 
God. An infinite number of the poorer sort watched 
day and night before the cottage, some to heal their 
souls, and some their bodies. 

" It is impossible to relate what miracles Christ 
wrought by his servant, what wonders the sick man 
performed : for whilst he would suffer no medicines to 
be applied to his distemper, he one night saw a person 
in garments as white as snow, who, standing by him 
and reaching out his hand, seemed to raise him up, 
and ordered him to stand boldly upon his feet; from 
which time his pain ceased, and he was so perfectly 
restored, that when the day came on, he set forth, 
without hesitation, upon his journey. 

" In the mean time the Saxons" and Picts, with their 
united forces, made war against the Britons, who, 
being thus by fear and necessity compelled to take up 
arms, and thinking themselves unequal to their ene- 
mies, implored the assistance of the holy bishops ; who, 
hastening to fulfil their promise of assisting them, 
inspired so much courage into these fearful people, 
that one would have thought they had been joined by 
a mighty army. Thus, by the agency of these holy 
men, Christ Himself commanded in the camp. The 
holy days of Lent were also at hand, and they were 
rendered still more holy by the presence of the priests. 



'' Individual ijodies of Saxons appear to have frequently joined 
the Picts and Scots in making their inroads into Britain. See 
pages 316,, 319. 



A. D. 429.] BATTLE OF THE HALLELUJAH.' 373 

insomuch that the people, instructed by daily sermons, 
resorted in crowds to be baptized; for most of the 
army desired admission to the saving water ; a church 
was prepared with boughs for the festival of our Lord's 
resurrection, and fitted up in such a manner, tliat the 
camp of war looked as if it were a city. The army, 
still wet with the baptismal water ^ advanced to meet 
the enemy : the faith of the people was strengthened, 
and whereas human power had long before been 
despaired of, the Divine assistance was now all they 
relied on. The enemy received advice of the state of 
the army, and hurried forwards, not doubting of suc- 
cess against an unarmed multitude ; but their approach 
was made known by the scouts to the Britons; the 
greater part of whose forces fresh fr6m the font, after 
the celebration of Easter, immediately armed and 
prepared for battle. Germanus, declaring that he 
would be their leader, chose out the most active men 
to reconnoitre the country round, and discovered, in the 
direction where the enemy was expected, a valley encom- 
passed with hills. Here he drew up his inexperienced 
troops, and acted in all respects as their general. 
A host of fierce enemies appeared, and as soon as 
those who were in ambush saw them approaching, 
Germanus, bearing the standard in his hands, instructed 
his men to repeat in a loud voice the words which he 
should say. The enemy advanced in security, thinking 
to take them by surprise, when the priests three times 
called out Hallelujah ! The word was repeated by all 
with one universal shout, and the hills resounding the 
ncho on all sides, the enemy was struck with dread, 

' This remark .suj)poils I he opinion, thai bapi.isni was in early 
times conferred at pavticnhir seasons of the year, and especially on 
Easter Sunday. 



374 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [€H. XXIT. 

fearing that not only the neighbouring rocks, but even 
the very skies, were faUing upon them ; and such was 
their terror, that their feet were not swift enough to 
save them. They fled in disorder, casting away their 
arms, and well satisfied, if with their bare bodies they 
could escape the danger : many of them, in their pre- 
cipitate and hasty flight, were swallowed up by the 
river which they were passing. The Britons, without 
the loss of a man, beheld their vengeance complete, 
and became inactive spectators of their victory. The 
scattered spoils were gathered up, and the pious soldiers 
rejoiced in the success which Heaven had granted them. 
Thus the prelates triumphed over the enemy without 
bloodshed, and gained a victory by faith, without the 
aid of human force ; and, having settled the afiairs of 
the island, and restored tranquillity by the defeat as 
well of the invisible as of the carnal enemies, prepared 
to return home. Their own merits, and the intercession 
of the holy martyr Alban, obtained for them a safe 
passage, and the happy vessel restored them in peace 
to their rejoicing people. 

" Not long after these things, intelligence was con- 
veyed from Britain to Gaul that certain persons were 
again attempting to set forth and spread abroad the 
Pelagian heresy. The holy Germanus was therefore 
entreated by all the priests, that he wOuld again defend 
the cause of God, which he had before so successfully 
maintained. He at once complied with their request; 
and taking with him Severus, a man of singular sanctity, 
who had been disciple to the most holy father Lupus, 
bishop of Troyes, and afterwards, as bishop of Treves, 
preached the word of God in the neighbouring parts of 
Germany, he put to sea, and was calmly wafted over 
into Britain. 



A.D. 429.] GERMANUS RETURNS TO GAUL. 375 

" In the mean time, the wicked spirits, flying over the 
whole island, foretold by constraint that Germanus was 
coming; insomuch that one Elafius, a chief of that part 
of the country, hastened to meet the holy men, though 
he had received no certain news of their coming, and 
carried with him his son, who suffered from a weakness 
of his limbs whilst in the very flower of his youth : for 
the nerves were withered, and his leg was so contracted 
that the limb was useless, and he could not walk. All 
the country followed this Elafius : and the priests, on 
their arrival, were met by the ignorant multitude, whom 
they first blessed, and then preached the word of God 
to them. They found them constant in the faith which 
they had before taught them, and learning that but few 
had gone astray, they found out the authors, and con- 
demned them. Elafius then cast himself at the feet of 
the priests, presenting his son, whose distress was 
visible, and needed no words to express it. All were 
grieved, but especially the priests, who put up their 
prayers for him before the throne of grace ; and Ger- 
manus, causing the lad to sit down, gently passed his 
healing hand over the limb which was contracted : the 
limb recovered its strength and soundness by the power 
of his touch ; the withered nerves were restored, and 
the youth was, in the presence of all the people, de- 
livered whole to his father. The multitude was amazed 
at the miracle, and the Catholic faith was firmly planted 
in the minds of all ; after which, they were, in a sermon, 
warned and exhorted to make amends for their errors. 
By the judgment of all, the spreaders of the heresy, 
who had been sentenced to exile, were brought before 
the priests, to be conveyed up into the continent, that 
the country might be rid of them, and that they might 
be corrected of their errors. Thus the faith in those 



376 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXII. 

parts continued long afterwards pure and untainted: 
and the prelates, when they had settled every thing 
which concerned their mission, departed to their own 
country as prosperously as they came ^." 

" Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. i, ch. 17—21. 



CHAP. XXIII. 

THE MISSIONS OF PALLADIUS AND ST. PATRICK TO IRELAND. 



Whilst the Pelagian heresy was distracting the 
Church in Britain, the sister island, Ireland, up to 
this time almost unnoticed by historians, was imbibing 
the precepts of Christianity from the teaching, first of 
Palladius, and secondly of the famous St. Patrick. 
The Bishop of Rome in the year 425 was Celestine, 
who, urged by pious zeal for the orthodox cause, 
commanded Celestius, one of the disciples of Pelagius, 
to be expelled from Italy ''. In the same year, he sent 
Palladius'' to convert the Scots, who inhabited the 
north of Ireland, and the western isles of Scotland. 
But the missionary met with no success, and was 
obliged to flee to Britain, where he shortly afterwards 
died, in the country of the Picts ". 

Upon the death of Palladius, Pope Celestine ap- 
pointed Patricius, commonly called St. Patrick '', to 
fulfil the mission which his predecessor had aban- 
doned. " Patrick was the son of a deacon named 
Calpurnius, who lived at Bonavcrn Tabernia?, near 
the village of Enon, places which have balBed the 
ingenuity of antiquaries ; for while some writers assert 

* Prosp. con. CoUat. c. 21. '' Id. Chrou. Neiniius, c. dC). 

" Nennius, c. 55. '' St. Patrick was appointed in 431. 



378 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIII. 

that Patrick was a native of Gwyr, or Gower, in 
Glamorganshire, others maintain that he was born in 
Clydesdale, in North Britain ; and others, that Armo- 
rica must be considered as the land of his birth. 
The original name of Patrick was Manning or Ma- 
gontius. He was born about the year 384, and, as he 
tells us in his ' Confession,' was only sixteen years of 
age, when he was made a captive. He was carried 
into Ireland, and became the slave of Milchu, king 
of Dalraida. Escaping thence, after some years of 
captivity, he repaired to Rome, and long remained 
in that city, devoting himself to literature, and to the 
study of Theology?' 

When the news of the death of Palladius reached 
Rome, Germanus had left Britain, and proceeded to 
Ravenna to present a petition on behalf of the in- 
habitants of Armorica^. Whilst he was in Italy, he 
became acquainted with the young Patrick, and it was 
principally by his instigation that the pope chose the 
young man to become the bearer of the tidings of 
salvation to Ireland''. 

In company with Patrick went an old priest named 
Seger, together with other ecclesiastics, whose names, 
with the exception of two, Auxilius the priest, and 
Iserninus the deacon, have not been recorded. When 
they arrived in Gaul, the future apostle of the Irish 
was consecrated bishop, and at the same time assumed 
the name by which he has since been known. 

After all the necessary ceremonies were fulfilled, 
the missionaries set sail, and soon landed on the 
coast of Britain, where they remained a few days, and 

^ Maun, in Nennius, c. 57. ^ Thackeray, vol. ii. p. 165. 

s Bede, i. 21. "^ Nennius, c. 56. adds, that an angel of God, 

named Victor, also urged the Pope to appoint St. Patrick ! 



A.D. 432.] MISSION OF ST. PATRICK. 379 

preached. But, as this was not their ultimate destina- 
tion, they continued their journey towards Ireland. 
Of their adventures in Cornwall and Wales, through 
which they are said to have passed, Giraldus Cam- 
brensis and John of Teignmouth have related many 
marvellous stories ; which, though they may not merit 
our belief, yet are in harmony with the growing super- 
stition of their age, and do not impugn the claim of 
St. Patrick to the honour of having first converted 
the Irish to Christianity. It was in the year 432 or 433, 
that the pious emissaries of Celestine reached the 
scene of their labours : and it was in the fifth year 
of the reign of one king Loigere, and in the 5330th 
year of the world, as we learn from the British writer 
Nennius '\ that they first began to convert and baptize 
the people. The holy man spent forty years in preach- 
ing the Gospel to the inhabitants of Ireland, and in 
the course of this long ministry is said to have wrought 
miracles more numerous and wonderful than those 
which were performed by Christ Himself. " He dis- 
played all the virtues of an apostle, gave sight to the 
blind, cleansed lepers, made the deaf to hear, cast out 
devils from the bodies of those who were possessed, 
raised nine dead men to life, and at his own cost 
redeemed many of both sexes from slavery ''. 

Even the more common and probable labours of the 
missionary have been aggravated, in order to excite 
the wonder and admiration of the ignorant. He is 
said to have written three hundred and sixty-five 
A B C's, or short catechisms, and to have founded 
the same number of Churches. He also ordained 
three hundred and sixty-five bishops, and three thou- 
sand priests. In Connaught alone he converted and 

' Nennius, c. 59. '' Ibid. 



380 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIII. 

baptized twelve thousand persons, and in one day 
christened seven kings, sons of Amolgith. As if to 
complete the parallel between the Saint and the 
Saviour, the ancient writers have audaciously related, 
that he fasted forty days and forty nights on a hill in 
Connaught, called Cruachan Eli, where, ' in the air/ 
he offered up to the Almighty three petitions on behalf 
of those Irishmen, who should receive the faith of Christ. 
His first prayer was, that every Irishman might be 
repentant, however late in life; the second was, that 
they never should fall a prey to the barbarians ; and 
the third, that no inhabitant of that country might be 
alive on the Day of Judgment : and to ensure the last 
of these petitions, it was promised that the whole island 
should be deluged by a flood of water seven years 
before the final consummation of all things'. 

In process of time, St. Patrick died at a very 
advanced age, and this fact in his history has been 
the occasion of a comparison instituted between him 
and Moses, for the grave of the Irish missionary, like 
that of the Hebrew lawgiver, has never yet been found; 
and as his very existence has in later ages been consi- 
dered doubtful, it is probable, that the place of his 
sepulture will still remain a secret to posterity. 

' Nennius, c. 61, 



CHAP. XXIV. 



ENFEEBLED STATE OF BRITAIN IN THE FIFTH CENTURY — THE BRITONS 
APPLY TO ROME — THEY APPLY A SECOND TIME TO iETIUS — THE 
GROANS OF THE BRITONS — VORTIGEBN— AURELIUS AMBROSIUS — THE 
SAXONS, HENGIST AND HORSA — THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT 
BRITONS ENDS — CONCLUSION. 



The stream of British history, hardly emerging at 
the invasion of JuHus Caesar from its original obsciu'ity, 
flows with a narrow and slender current through the 
first four centuries of the Christian era; but in the 
year 410 it loses itself in the chaos to which all Europe 
was then for a time reduced. The Britons, left to 
themselves, found it impossible to maintain their newly- 
acquired freedom, and the whole country became a prey 
to calamities, which could only be cured by a bitter and 
bloody remedy. To trace the events which occurred 
in this country during the brief period of its inde- 
pendence is no easy task ; for, as the history of our 
island during all the preceding period is no more than 
an offshoot of the History of the Roman empire, so when 
Honorius by his letters cast off Britain from his sove- 
reignty, the history of the island almost ceases to exist. 
If any native records of the fifth century were still 
remaining, whether obscured by the errors of tran- 
scribers or mutilated by tlie liand of time, we might 
still hope to extract some information concerning the 
period in question ; but where nothing has been recorded, 
it is certain that little can be known, and the most 
painful researches of historians have failed to throw 



382 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

more than a dubious light upon the interval which 
elapsed between the departure of the Romans and the 
invasion of the Saxons. Ecclesiastical legends alone, 
such as those of Germanus and Patrick, are found 
occupying the place of authentic history ; and if the 
Britons nationally could devote to such polemical 
questions as the Arian and Pelagian heresies the time 
and talents which should have been given to the brave 
defence of their country from its barbarous enemies, we 
could scarcely regret that a nation so enfeebled should 
give place to successors better able to appreciate and 
maintain their position in a country which Divine Pro- 
vidence has singularly favoured both in soil and climate. 
But it is far from certain that the Britons bowed so readily 
beneath the yoke of their conquering invaders ; and the 
length of time during which they disputed inch by inch 
the possession of the country, together with the final 
incompleteness of the Saxon dominion, shew that the 
descendants of those brave men who opposed the 
landing of Julius Caesar were not so degenerate or 
feeble as other continental nations, which submitted at 
once to the incursions of the barbarians. 

The original enmity, such as always exists between 
neighbouring half-civilized or savage tribes, and which 
had ever led to war and bloodshed between the Britons 
and the people of Caledonia, was now aggravated by 
the jealousy which the Picts and Scots would feel at 
the more polished manners which their neiglibours had 
acquired from the Romans, and they now worked their 
vengeance to the full on the unhappy provincials. 
Though the spirit of the Britons was still erect and 
unimpared, yet the strength of the island had been 
diminished by the levies which had been raised to 
recruit the Roman armies. When the last legion, 



A.D. 410 — -449.] PICTS AND SCOTS. 883 

which guarded the Roman wall in the north, was with- 
drawn, the last hope of the peaceful natives seemed 
to depart with it. Their implacable enemies, finding 
that the military science of the Romans would no longer 
protect the coveted riches of the south, rushed forth 
with all the haste of cruelty and avarice to invade the 
undefended province. The Picts, following the line of 
the eastern coast, poured their devastating troops 
through the modern counties of Northumberland, 
Durham, and Yorkshire, whilst the Scots, issuing from 
their westerly haunts in the islands, and traversing 
Cumberland, joined the allied band of invaders, and 
both together carried desolation and havoc through the 
whole land. The natives, in despair, turned to the 
still powerful name of Rome, and dispatched messen- 
gers to entreat help from the emperor ''. 

" In relating this embassy, the historian Gildas obscurely hints at 
some calamity which the Romans had received in Britain. His words 
are, " A legion well provided with arms, forgetful of the past misfor- 
tune, [pr^eteriti mali immemor,'] was appointed to assist them," 
Nennius is more specific, and seems to point to some deed of violence, 
if not of treachery, enacted by the Britons against the Romans before 
the final departure of the latter. " Three times," says he, " were the 
consuls of the Romans slain by the Britons .... and when the 
ambassadors were sent, these entered the audience-chamber with many 
demonstrations of sorrow, and with ashes upon their heads, carrying 
also large presents with them for the consuls, in acknowledgment of 
their crime in having slain their generals." The whole chapter is 
curious, but, as it contains rather the comments of the author upon 
certain facts, without relating the facts themselves, we gain no help 
from it as concerning the point in question. From the expression, 
" and so the Romans did alternately during 449 years," we might 
infer that the passage refers to the whole period of the Roman domi- 
nation, rather than to the last few years of their being in Britain. And 
yet it is not unlikely that Ambrosius may have been the head of a 
Roman i)arty in Britain, whilst Vortigern may have been the assertor 
of his country's freedom. 



384 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

In accordance with their petition, a well-disciplined 
legion was sent over, and in the first engagement the 
cruel enemies of the Britons were defeated with great 
slaughter, and compelled to return to the wild haunts 
from which they had issued. 

But the armies of Rome were wanted nearer home, 
and were no longer numerous enough to defend a 
distant province. The auxiliary legion was obliged to 
return to the continent, but they first exhorted the 
natives to stand valiantly upon their defence, and in- 
structed them, besides other modes of repelling the 
incursions of the enemy, to repair^ the ramparts which 
had been erected many years before by the Romans. 

The slender and uncertain records of these events 
tell us, that the unlucky Britons were destitute of 
artificers who could construct a wall of stone, and that 
a rampart of earth was consequently raised to protect 
the country from the incursions of the Picts and Scots. 
But it can scarcely be believed that the simple princi- 
ples of the masonic art had so speedily become extinct 
among a people, whose luxury is said to have been the 
cause of their misfortunes ; nor should it be forgotten, 
that a mound of earth was in all ages the characteristic 
and almost the impregnable barrier of a Roman camp, 
and that one of the greatest of the Roman emperors 
had actually, many years before, constructed such a 
rampart to keep oif the incursions of the same barba- 
rians of the north. 

We may gather from the contradictions of historians 
the slenderness of their acquaintance with the subject 

'' The word is ' construeie,' both in Gildas and Bede, but it is almost 
certain that at least one of the Roman walls was still standing, and 
probably all three oi' them might with a little labour be easily repaired., 
and again brought into service. 



A. D. 430 — 440.] ROMAN LEGION. 385 

which they relate, but we cannot err wlien we refer 
great results to the agency of such causes as are shewn 
in the history of man to have continually produced 
them. It is allowed us to conjecture, that the cause of 
the Britons was distracted by discordant interests and 
harassed by conflicting counsels. When such is the 
melancholy state of things, an enemy, impelled by the 
love of plunder, will hardly fail to find a vulnerable 
point in a wall extending across so large an island, and 
presenting a frontier such as a numerous army would 
be required to occupy or to defend. No sooner there- 
fore had the Roman legion left the island, than the 
former enemies sallied from their retreats, and again 
ravaged the country with fire and sword. 

The natives were again unable to oppose them, and 
probably still less able than before, for they might by 
this time have learnt from experience, how unhappy is 
the condition of that country which owes its liberty to 
the intervention of a foreign army. But the Britons 
had to choose between two certain evils; and notwith- 
standing that all their treasures had been swept away 
to pay for the assistance which their auxiliaries ren- 
dered them'^, they again sent ambassadors to ask for 
help. A legion was again dispatched to aid the 
Britons, and as they landed on the island in the 
autumn, when the ravaging troops of the enemy, 
occupied in gathering the spoil, were probably less 
careful of defending themselves from a surprise, we 

" " Tlie Roman legion went home in great triumpli, having 
spoliated Britain of all its gold, silver, copper, precious garments, 
and honey," are the words of Nennins. " Triun)ph and joy" were 
their only spoils, according to Gildds, but these are signilicaiit ex- 
pressions, and tlie later historian seems in tiiis instance to have given 
the true version of the story. 

C C 



386 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS, [CH. XXIV, 

need not seek for any other explanation of the sequeL 
In the turgid style of the British writer, whose que- 
rulous narrative comes the nearest to the times of these 
unhappy wars, " the Roman army, like a flight of 
eagles in the air, or a troop of cavalry by land, or a 
crew of sailors on the sea, hastening their unexpected 
course, and fixing their terrific swords on the necks and 
shoulders of their enemies, enacted a slaughter which 
can be likened only at a certain time to the falling of 
the leaf; and as a mountain-torrent, swelled by the 
frequent streams of tempests, and overflowing its banks 
with sounding tide, with curling surface, and bold 
front, raising, as they say, its waves to heaven, by 
whose eddying currents our eyes are, as it were, 
dazzled, overwhelms with one billow every obstacle in 
its way; so did our illustrious defenders vigorously 
drive our enemies beyond the sea, if perchance any 
could so escape them." 

When the Picts and Scots were a second time 
driven back to their forests and marshes, the Roman 
auxiliaries also prepared to leave the island, but 
before their departure they gave notice to the Britons 
that they must in future protect themselves, and expect 
to receive no more reinforcements from abroad. To 
encourage them to act bravely on the defensive, 
they aided them in erecting a wall of stone between 
the mouth of the Tyne and Boulness, or perhaps, to 
speak more correctly, in repairing the wall which 
Severus had formerly built between those points. 
They also gave the most energetic counsels to the 
Britons to acquit themxselves like men in theii* own 
defence, and they left them the most approved models 
for manufacturing such arms and militaiy instruments 
as would be of most service to them. 



A.D. 446.] PICTS AND SCOTS. 387 

But the Picts and Scots were not the only enemies 
whom the Britons had cause to fear. Tlie south 
coast of the island was harassed almost daily by the 
hordes of northern pirates ever since the days of 
Carausius. Among these freebooters the Saxons 
were conspicuous, and their attacks, though not yet 
threatening the conquest of the island, were neverthe- 
less annoying to those who lived in the districts border- 
ing on the sea. To repel these enemies, the Romans 
erected towers at intervals along the coast, and com- 
manding a prospect of the sea, after which they left 
the island, never to return. 

But the drama in which the calamities of Britain 
were represented, had but yet commenced. The Picts 
and Scots, for the modern historian has learnt never 
to separate the names of those barbarous tribes, speedily 
poured their irregular troops over the province of 
Valentia, which, by the adoption of the wall of Severus 
instead of that of Antonine, seemed tacitly given up 
to them, and they determined to surmount the 
obstacle which impeded their further inroads. The 
Britons, from their stations on the wall, beheld with 
dismay the approach of their formidable enemies. 
" Like worms under the heat of the mid-day sun," 
says Gildas, " they came forth from their holes, and, 
though differing from one another in manners, yet 
they were inspired with the same thirst for blood, and 
all more eager to shroud their villainous faces in bushy 
hair, than to cover with decent clothing those parts of 
their bodies which most required it. To oppose them 
there was placed on the wall a garrison equally sicjw to 
light and ill adapted to run away, a useless and panic- 
struck company, which slumbered away days and nights 
on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked 
c c 2 



388 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

weapons of their enemies were not idle, and our 
wretched countrymen were dragged from the wall and 
dashed against the ground. They left their cities, 
abandoned the protection of the walls, and dispersed 
themselves in Uight more desperately than before. 
The enemy, on the other hand, pursued them with 
unrelenting cruelty, butchering our countrymen like 
sheep, so that their habitations were like those of 
savage beasts; for they turned their arms upon each 
other, and for the sake of a little sustenance, imbued 
their hands in the blood of their fellow-countrymen. 
Thus foreign calamities were augmented by domestic 
feuds; so that the whole country was entirely destitute 
of provisions, except such as could be procured by the 
chase'." 

Such was the state of Britain in A. D. 446, thirty- 
six years after its independence was recognised by the 
letter of Honorius, which authorized the cities to 
defend themselves from the barbarians. In the same 
year the celebrated ^Etius, the formidable rival of 
Attiia, king of the Huns, and the last stay of the 
western empire, enjoyed for the third time, and in con- 
junction with Symmachus, the empty honours of the 
Roman consulate. 

j^tius was at this time in Gaul, making head, as 
well as he was able, against the numerous enemies of 
the Roman state. To him therefore the miserable 
remnant of the Britons again applied for succour, and 



'' This picture of civil disasters is too true to nature. In such a 
hopeless state of things, national virtues disappear, and the law of 
self-preservation exerts its full force on individuals: hence arise 
deeds of treachery, of which conquerors avail themselves, to lay 
whole nations prostrate at their feet. 



A.D. 446.] THE GROANS OF THE BRITOXS. 380 

a brief but memorable extract has been preserved ol" 
the letter which they addressed to him. 

" To i^tius, thrice consul, the groans of the Britons ! 
.... The barbarians drive us to the sea : the sea 
throws us back upon the barbarians : thus two modes 
of death await us : we shall either be drowned, or 
perish by the sword !" 

But it was not in the power of i^tius to succour the 
distressed islanders. The terrible Attila was threatening 
both the east and west with subjugation, and every 
soldier that could be levied was required to oppose his 
arms. 

The disappointed envoys returned to their native 
land, which they found afflicted by a manifold scoiu'ge 
of God. In the commotions of war, agriculture had 
been neglected. A famine broke out in the island, 
followed by its invariable attendant the pestilence, whicli 
swept off the natives by hundreds; about the same 
time the dreadful plague was felt also in the city of 
Constantinople; and, when we add to this the havoc 
and din of war which covered all Europe, it seemed as 
if the vial of the Almighty's wrath was visibly poured 
out over all the countries of the civilized world. 

Nor can we suppose that the evils of Britain failed 
to extend to their implacable enemies; many of the 
Britons in despair yielded themselves as slaves to their 
invaders, and probably carried with them the infection 
of disease. Or it may perhaps be believed, that the 
havoc which the barbarians had made recoiled upon 
their own minds, and made them pause in the work of 
destruction. We read also that some of tlie Britons, 
finding no help but in their own valour. Hew to arms, 
made a resolute stand for their lives and liberty, and 
bravely defeated their oppressors. Whatever may have 



390 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

been the cause, their enemies withdrew from the coun- 
try which they had so fearfully ravaged, and gave the 
Britons a short respite, which they did not improve to 
their own advantage. The soil, again left to its native 
fertility, became by the labours of the returning rustic 
wonderfully productive. Plenty as usual followed peace, 
and the whole island smiled as if its calamities were at 
an end. But the calm was of short duration. Peace 
did not bring wisdom with it, and the people had not 
learnt experience from misfortune. " Every kind of 
luxury and licentiousness sprung up, and all the other 
vices to which human nature is liable, and in particular 
that hatred of truth, which still," as Gildas declares at 
the time when he was writing, " destroyed every thing 
good in the island, the love of falsehood together v^rith 
its inventors, the reception of crime in the place of 
virtue, respect shewn to wickedness rather than to 
goodness, the love of darkness instead of the sun, the 
admission of Satan as an angel of light. Kings were 
anointed, not according to God's ordinance, but such 
as shewed themselves more cruel than the rest; and 
soon after, they were put to death by those who elected 
them, vifithout any inquiry into their merits, but because 
others still more cruel were chosen to succeed them. 
If any one of these was of a milder nature than the rest, 
or in any way more regardful of the truth, he was 
looked upon as the ruiner of the country, every body 
launched a shaft at him, and they paid no regard to 
the distinction between what was pleasing or displeas- 
ing to God, unless it so happened that what displeased 
Him was on the contrary pleasing to themselves." 

But it is a painful labour to depict all the miseries 
which the pen of the only British writer has recorded 
in his melancholy style, and the historian who has 



A.D. 449.] VORTIGERN — THE SAXONS. 391 

traced the tale of his forefathers from their first appear- 
ance among- civiUzed nations to the period when they 
are again lost to the eye, may plead the benefit of that 
dramatic propriety which forbids a deed of murder to 
be perpetrated on the stage. The name of Vortigern, 
that unfortunate king whose counsels led, perhaps 
inevitably, to the degradation of his dynasty and the 
destruction of his people, will recal to the reader's 
recollection the last and desperate determination of the 
Britons, to invite to their aid one of those very tribes 
of enemies from whom they had suffered so many 
misfortunes. But it is unjust to visit the advice of 
Vortigern with the charge of treason as well as of 
indiscretion, for it is uncertain how far the Britons 
would have been able in any other way to extricate 
themselves from the evils which threatened them. The 
extreme of misery, to which the whole people were 
reduced, was a crisis which required one of those violent 
remedies that ordinary wisdom seldom supplies; and 
the unhappy people, whose national existence we have 
followed through five hundred years, now found them- 
selves in the position of some of those weaker animals 
of the forest, which rush, by a fascination that they 
cannot resist, into the jaws of the monster that will 
devour them. It is unimportant, in contemplating the 
exit of a whole nation from the busy stage of existence, 
to ascertain whether the Saxon leaders Hengist and 
Horsa arrived, as exiles and adventurers on the coast 
of Britain, or, what is less likely, were invited expressly 
out of Germany to repel the northern barbarians. 
Those German auxiliaries were hardly less savage than 
the nations whom they drove back, and had been for 
centuries well known in Britain as pirates and marau- 
ders. To pursue our way tlnough tlie stories ol' rapin(.'. 



392 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

blood and battles, which mark the coming of the Saxons, 
and to trace the faint outline of the period during 
which the invaders slowly but surely took possession of 
the country which they came to save, belongs to 
another theme, still more obscure and unsatisfactory 
than that which is the subject of these pages. 

It may, however, be pardonable in an inhabitant of 
Britain, who rejoices in the proud situation which his 
little island occupies among the nations of the earth, 
to bestow a brief attention upon the protracted cha- 
racter of the contest between the Britons, and those 
treacherous allies, by whom they were subjected. It is 
pleasing to perceive, by the feeble light which our 
early writers have thrown over those transactions, that 
the same invincible spirit of national bravery which 
opens the view of British history, is manifest when the 
scene closes over it for ever. Whilst we may decline 
to pass a harsh judgment upon Vortigern for being, 
perhaps ignorantly, the instrument of his country's 
ruin, other names occur in the ensuing generation, 
which deserve to be mentioned in a catalogue of the 
great men which Britain has produced. The fii'st of 
these was Vortemir, the son of Vortigern, and his 
valiant deeds against the Saxons would be almost 
sufficient to efface the memory of his father's misfor- 
tunes. Four times he defeated the enemy in a regular 
battle. His first victory was gained in the isle of 
Thanet, which was the place of residence assigned 
them when they came to assist the Britons against the 
Picts and Scots. The second victory was gained on 
the river Derwent, the third at Episford in Kent, and 
the fourth, near the south coast, was so signal, that the 
enemy fled with precipitation to their ships. 

The next general who sustained for a time the arms 



AMBROSIUS AUKELIUS. KING ARTHUR. 393 

of his country, and checked the progress of the enemy, 
was Ambrosius Aurelius, a Roman by name and by 
descents In a battle fought at Badon Hill, near the 
Severn, and probably in the neighbourhood of Bath, 
the enemy met with a severe discomfiture, though not 
so disastrous to them as many which they were after- 
wards destined to receive. The most formidable op- 
ponent of the Saxons was the celebrated King Arthur, 
who is said to have come off victor in twelve pitched 
battles *^, and in one of them to have slain nine hundred 
of the enemy with his own hand. We cannot but 
lament the indiscretion of those who have sought by 
such exaggerations to augment the reputation of a brave 
and patriotic prince ; but whilst we set aside fables 
as unworthy of serious attention, we are not justified 
in asserting, with some incredulous historians, that no 
such person as Arthur ever lived and fought; still less 
may we compromise the claims which history justly 
makes to the respect and attention of mankind, by 
considering Arthur as a personification of the sun, and 
viewing his round table with the twelve Paladins, as a 
poetical description of the Zodiac with its twelve 
signs s. 

The landing of the Saxon chiefs, Hengist and 
Horsa, in the year of our Lord 449, opens a new era 
to the historian of Britain, an era which demands the 
consideration of a separate work. It ushers in a new 
people and incidents of a new character, which would 
destroy the unity of a picture, that has for its object the 
delineation of a former and different system. Yet the 
author cannot quit his task vvithout regretting, that his 

' See page 383, noie. 

' For a list of iheso battles, see Neuiiiiis, c. (14. 

6 See " IJritain alter the Romans." 



394 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. [CH. XXIV. 

utmost exertions have been so unfruitful. The course 
of his narrative has been often broken, and only at 
intervals bears a distinct and definite outline. Though 
it has been impossible to weave into a continuous chain 
the narrative of events, yet many a link has been 
recovered to shew the system of which it was a part; 
as the fossil vertebrae which are dug up from the 
earth describe the nature and formation of the animals 
to which they once belonged. The remains of the 
people who once occupied Britain do not present such 
gigantic members as mark the megatherium and other 
monsters which the geology of the ancient world 
occasionally exhibits: they partake more of the cha- 
racter of those ferns and other vegetable substances, 
which, by the lingering traces of threads and fibres 
deposited in their fossil strata, shew that they are akin 
to those objects of similar species, which still exist 
in the living universe around us. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



Page 19. line 7. Several of the states, into which that 
island is divided, sent ambassadors to f/ive hostages, ^c.'] 
Tzetzes, a Greek poetical wiiter of the tenth century, and 
of little authority in a matter on which all preceding historians 
are silent, tells us, that the Britons attempted, through their 
ambassadors at Rome, to bribe Cato, who was known to be i 

a political enemy of Caesar. The anecdote seems to be a j 

copy of the old stoiy of Cincinnatus: the author's own words I 

may be translated as follows : 

That Cato was not to be lured by gifts. 
Learn from the instance which I here relate. 
His fame had reached e'en to Britannia's isle, 
And British kings, desirous of his friendship, 
To him send messengers, with chests of gold. 
The legates, ignorant of Cato's person, 
While seeking haply who might teach them, found 
The man himself, the very man I say. 
Dressing his turnips with his proper hands. 
Supposing him a cook, they bad him tell 
That some should signify to Cato's self 
That legates from the Britons fain would greet him : 
' If ye seek Cato, I'm the man,' quoth he. 
At first they deem'd that jeeringly he spake: 
But learning he was Cato ; as was fit, 
They said with reverence due : ' Oh Cato, chief 
Of Romans sprung from great ^Eneas' line. 
The British kings, desirous of thy friendship, 
Have sent thee chests of gold, a present meet." 
' But do they seek me for their slave, or friend?" 
' A friend,' replied the train. Then Cato said : ^ 

!■ 



396 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

' Quickly begone, and straight restore their gold, 
For slav'ry is its price, not friendship pure ; 
I am their genuine friend, not bought by gifts. 
And say, ye British legates, can a chief 
Who lives like me, whom turnips can suffice 
By mine own hand prepar'd, say, can ye think 
That I want gold, or e'en what gold can buy?' 
Such, as I now have said, were Cato's words. 

TzETZES, Chil. X. 

Page .38, 1. 11. brass.] The Britons are supposed to have 
had ornaments of gold, such as have been found among 
many barbarous nations. Sir Thomas Mostyn, Bart, in a 
letter to Roger Jones, M.D. and F.R.S. found in the Philo- 
sophical Transactions, No. 462, Jan. and Feb. 1741 — 2, 
describes such a chain found in England, and supposed to 
be as old as the lime of Csesar. 

" Sir, Gloddelh, Dec. 27, 1741. 

" I have received the favour of your letter, wherein you 
desire to be informed of the particulars of my Torques. I 
wish I were able to give you a better account, but have 
never seen nor heard of any remarks made upon it, or any 
account where it was found, but I think it was in this 
country. It is a wreath of gold, weighing, as near as I can 
judge, nine ounces. I believe it is without alloy, being very 
pliable ; it answers exactly Virgil's description, Mn. v. 558 
and 559. 

Pars leves humero pharetras : it pectore summo 

Flexilis obtorti per coUum circulus am'i. 

" It being joined here with the Pharetra, and being very 
proper for cai'rying a quiver, inclines me to think, that the 
Gauls, from whom the Romans took it, used it for that pur- 
pose ; but among the latter it seems to have been worn as 
an ornament, rather than a thing of use. There are several 
passages in the historians, which mention its being given as 
a reward for militaiy service. It is sometimes described as 
a chain consisting of several links; but mine is all one piece, 
without any link or joints, and takes its flexibility from the 
pm'eness of the metal. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 397 

" I doubt not there are many gentlemen of the Society, 
who can give a better account of the Torques than I can. 
If, for your o.vn satisfaction, you have a mind to be further 
informed of the use of it among the ancients, you may, I 
believe, find it in a Treatise written by one John Schefferus, 
de Antiquoram Torquibus, which is printed in Graevius's 
Collections . . . ." 



Page 217. 1. 19. that Lucius may.'] The history of King 
Lucius has been rendered still more suspicious by the at- 
tempts which the ecclesiastics have made to render it clear. 
A letter has been preserved, which purports to have been 
written by Pope Eleutherius to King Lucius. A copy of it is 
preserved in a Lambeth MS, [No. 157, fol. 1.] beginning as 
follows : " Episiola domini Eleutherii papee Lucio regi 
Britanni(B, qui primo suscepit Jidem Cliristi. Petistis a 
nobis leges Roraanas et Csesaris vobis transmitti, quibus in 
regno Britannise uti voluistis: leges Romanas et Caesaris 
reprobare semper possimus ; suscepistis enim miseratione 
Divina in regno Britanniaj legem Christi, habetis et penes 
vos in regno vestro utramque paginam ex illis Dei gratiam, 
&c." This letter is nothing more than a most audacious and 
manifest forgery. 

Page 283. 1. 7. Helena.] " This is that Helena, who in 
ancient inscriptions is styled Venerabilis et Pientissima 
Augusta, and so much extolled by ecclesiastical historians 
for her Christian piety, for purging Jenisalem from idols, 
building a church on the place where our Lord suffered, and 
discovering the saving cross of Christ.' The Jews and 
Gentiles, however, contemptuously call her the daughter of 
a stable-keeper, because the pious princess sought for the 
manger in which Christ was born, and built a church wliere 
the stable had been. Hence St. Ambrose [de obitu Theo- 
dosii] says, ' They pretend she was the daughter of a stable- 
keeper, &c. The good stable-keeper Helena hasted to .Toru- 
salem, and searched for the place of our Lord's Passion, and 



398 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

made diligent enquiry after the Lord's manger. The good 
stable-keeper, who was not imacquainted with that stable- 
born person who healed the wounds of him that fell among 
thieves. The good stable-keeper, who chose the meanest 
employment, counting all things but dung that she might 
gain Christ. Nor is her husband Constantius less extolled 
for his piety and moderation [Euseb.] as " a man who, 
utterly renouncing the superstition of the wicked in worship- 
ping a multitude of Gods, readily acknowledged one God the 
supreme Governor of all." Gougli's Camden, vol. i. p. cii. 

Page 287. 1. 11. turned their eyes towards Constantine, 
Sfc.l Among those who had accompanied Constantine into 
Britain was one Eroc, a German king. He is said by 
Aurelius Victor [Epit. 4.] to have been foremost in urging 
Constantine to declare himself emperor. 

Page 342. 1. 30. took refuge in Armorica.'] The inhabit- 
ants of Armorica without doubt are a branch of that ex- 
tensive Celtic population which once covered the west of 
Europe. In confirmation of this opinion we have the im- 
portant fact, that all the western or most remote coasts of the 
diiferent countries of Europe are still fringed by a narrow 
remnant of Celts. This is the case in Scotland, Wales, 
Ireland, Spain, and was, within the memory of man, the case 
with Cornwall also. 

In Jornandes, ch. 65. we find a notice of a British army 
of 12000 men, invited by the emperor Anthemius to assist 
him against Euric, king of the Goths, who attempted to 
occupy Gaul. Their King is named Riothimus. 

Page 368. 1. 20. chaos.] After the Romans had entirely 
left Britain, and the Saxons began to occupy it, the island 
soon became as completely unknown to the rest of Europe 
as it was before the invasion of Caesar. The following story 
extracted from Procopius, the most celebrated writer of the 
sixth century, will shew what absurd notions were prevalent 
in his time concerning this country. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 399 

" About this time, war and contest arose between the 
nation of the Vavni and the insular sohliers who dwell in 
the island called Brittia, from the following cause. The 
Varni are seated beyond the river Ister: and they extend 
as far as the Northern Ocean, and the river Rhine, which 
separates them from the Franks and the other nations 
situated in this quarter. The whole of those, who fonnerly 
dwelt on either side of the river Rhine, had each a peculiar 
name ; of which one tribe is called Germans, a name com- 
monly applied to all. In this [Northern] Ocean lies the 
island Brittia, not far from the continent, but as much as 
two hundred stadia, right opposite to the outlets of the 
Rhine, and is between Britannia and the island Thule. For 
Britannia lies somewhere towards the setting sun, at the 
extremity of the country of the Spaniards, distant from the 
continent not less than four thousand stadia. But Brittia " 
lies at the hindermost extremity of Gaul where it borders on 
the ocean, that is to say, to the north of Spain and Britain : 
whereas Thule, so far as is known to men, lies at the farthest 
extremity of the ocean towards the north : but matters 
relating to Britain and Thule have been discoursed of in 
our former narrative. Three very numerous nations possess 
Brittia, over each of which a king presides ; which nations 
are named Angili, Phrissones, and those surnamed from the 
island, Brittones ; so great indeed appears the fecundity of 
these nations, that every year vast numbers migrating thence 
with their wives and children go to the Franks; who colonize 
them in such places as seem the most desert parts of their 
country ; and upon this circumstance, they say, they found 
a claim to the island. Insomuch indeed, that, not long 
since, the king of the Franks dispatching some of his own 
people on an embassy to the emperor Justinian at Byzan- 
tium, sent with them also certain of the Angili ; thus making 
a show as though this island also was ruled by him. Such 
then are the matters relating to the island called Brittia. 

" Not long ere this, a certain man named llcrmegisclus 

^ The absurdity of distinguishing Ikittia and Britannia as two din'oriMit islands, 
must be apparent to every reader. 



400 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

ruled over the Varni. And he, being anxious to strengthen 
his kingdom, had married the sister of Theudibertus, king of 
the Franks ; for his former wife had recently died, having 
given birth to a boy called Radiger, whom she left to his 
father. To him his father betrothed a virgin of Brittian 
race, whose brother was at that time king of the nation of 
the Angili, giving her great wealth under the name of dowry. 
This man, riding in a certain district with some of the 
Varnian nobility, saw a bird sitting on a tree, and croaking 
excessively. And then, whether he understood the cry of 
the bird, or having other information, he pi*etended that he 
knew the bird's predictions ; he said immediately to those 
present, that he should die within forty days: for so the 
boding of the bird portended him : ' I, therefore,' said he, 
' providing beforehand how you may live most securely and 
quietly, have made affinity with the Franks, having taken 
my wife from among them, and have contracted a Brittian 
alliance for my son. But now, as I am persuaded T must die 
very shortly, and as I have neither male nor female issue by 
this wife, and moreover as my son is yet unwedded and un- 
matched, I will communicate to you my views : and if they 
do not seem inexpedient to you, as soon as I arrive at the 
term of my existence, prosecuting them successfully, carry 
them into effect. I think, therefore, that affinity with the 
Franks, rather than with the islanders, would be beneficial to 
the Varni. For the Brittians are incapable of intercourse 
with you, save with time and difficulty ; whereas the Varni 
and the Franks have only the waters of the Rhine between 
them. So that, being our nearest neighbours and extremely 
powerful, they have the facility of benefiting or of injuring 
us whenever they please ; and they will injure us in every 
way, unless our affinity with them prevent it. For the 
superior povt'er of neighbours is by nature grievous to men, 
and always likely to inflict injury ; since it is easy for a 
powerful neighbour to frame excuses for war against such as 
live near him, however unoffending they may be. This then 
being the case, let the female islander, betrothed to my son, 
be abandoned, receiving as a compensation for this slight, 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 401 

the whole of the wealth with which she has been honoured by 
us on this occasion, as the established customs of men pre- 
scribe. But let Radiger, my son, hereafter marry his step- 
mother, as our national usage permits.' 

" Having thus spoken, on the fortieth day from the boding 
of the bird, he sickened, and fulfilled his destiny. But the 
son of Hermegisclus having received the kingdom of the 
Varni, by the advice of the chiefs among these barbarians, 
earned into effect the counsel of the deceased ; and im- 
mediately renounced his contract with the maiden who was 
affianced to him, and married his stepmother. When, how- 
ever, the betrothed of Radiger had learned these things, not 
enduring the indignity of the transaction, she determined to 
punish him for the slight he had put upon her. For so 
highly rated is chastity among these barbarians, that if even 
the mere mention of marriage occurs without its completion, 
the maiden seems to lose her fair fame. First, however, 
having sent some of her retinue on an embassy to him, she 
demanded for what cause he had slighted her, as she had 
neither been guilty of incontinence, nor of any other un- 
gracious act towards him: but when she could prevail 
nothing by such means, assuming a masculine character, 
she proceeded to hostile measures. Immediately therefore 
collecting four hundred vessels, and embarking in them an 
aiTnament of not less than one hundred thousand warriors, 
she with this force advanced in person against the Varni. 
She took with her also one of her brothers to conduct affairs 
in conjunction with her for the present ; not him indeed who 
held the kingdom, but another who filled a private station. 
Of all the barbarians whom we know, these islanders are the 
most warlike, and they proceed on foot to their battles. So 
far from being exercised in horsemanship, they have never 
had even the chance of knowing what a horse is, since they 
have never seen in this island even a representation of it; 
for it appears that such an animal never existed in Brittia. 
Should it happen, therefore, occasionally to any of these 
people to go on an embassy, or for any other cause, to the 
Romans or Franks, or elsewhere where horses are used, and 
Dd 



402 ADDITIONAL NOTES, 

it should be necessary for them to proceed on horseback, 
then have they no device whatever for mounting, but other 
men Ufting them up, place them on the horses ; and, when 
wishing to dismount, they lift them again, and place them on 
the ground. Neither indeed are the Varni horsemen, but 
men who fight altogether on foot. Such then are these 
barbarians : neither in this expedition was there a single 
person unemployed in the vessels, each man taking an oar ; 
nor do these islanders make use of sails, their navigation 
being effected by rowing only. 

" When, therefore, they had reached the continent, the 
virgin who commanded them having built a strong forti- 
fication very near the outlet of the river Rhine, remained 
herself on that spot with some few persons ; but her brother 
she ordered with the whole remaining army to proceed 
against her enemies. The Varni had pitched their camp 
not far from the shore of the ocean and the outlet of the 
Rhine : here the Angili speedily arriving, they mutually 
engaged, and the Varni were completely defeated : many of 
them fell in the encounter ; the rest, with their king, were 
wholly put to flight : and the Angili, having pursued them a 
short distance, as far as infantry were capable of doing, 
returned to their camp. These on their coming back the 
virgin rebuked ; and severely reprehended her brother, in- 
sisting that he had done nothing effective with the army, 
inasmuch as he had not brought to her Radiger alive. 
Having selected therefore the most warlike of her forces, she 
dispatched them with an order, by every means to biing the 
man captive. These, complying with her commands, went 
searching diligently on all sides, until they found Radiger 
hidden in a thicket; whom^ after binding him, they con- 
ducted to the damsel. He stood before her trembling, and 
fully expecting to die immediately by the most cruel death. 
But she, contrary to his expectation, neither put him to 
death, nor did any thing ungracious towards him. But 
reproaching him for the slight put upon her, she demanded 
wherefore, in violation of the covenant, he had married 
another woman ? more especially as she, the betrothed, had 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 403 

not been gnilly of incontinence : and he, alleging in ex- 
tenuation the commands of his father and the solicitation of 
the chiefs, had recourse to entreaties, and blended his excuse 
with many supplications, casting the blame upon necessity. 
Moreover, he professed that, if she were willing, he would 
many her ; and would atone for his former misdeeds by his 
future actions. And when these things pleased the damsel, 
Radiger was both released from his bonds, and honoured 
with other marks of kindness ; whereupon he immediately 
renounced the sister of Theudibert, and married the Brittian. 
Thus these matters terminated. 

" Moreover, iu this isle of Brittia, men of ancient time built 
a long wall, cutting off a great portion of it : for the soil, and 
the man, and all other things, are not alike on both sides ; 
for on the eastern side of the wall, there is a wholesomeness 
of air in conformity with the seasons, moderately warm in 
summer, and cool in winter. Many men inhabit here, living 
much as other men. The trees with their ajjpropriate fruits 
flourish in season, and their corn-lands are as productive as 
others ; and the district appears sufficiently fertilized by 
streams. But on the western side all is different, insomuch 
indeed, that it would be impossible for a man to live there 
even half an hour. Vipers and serpents innumerable, with 
all other kinds of wild beasts, infest that place ; and what is 
most strange, the natives affirm, that if any one, passing the 
wall, should proceed to the other side, he would die im- 
mediately, unable to endure the unwholesomeness of the 
atmosphere. Death also attacking such beasts as go thither, 
forthwith destroys them. But as I have arrived at this point 
of ray history, it is incumbent on me to record a tradition 
very nearly allied to fable, which has never appeared to me 
true in all respects, though constantly spread abroad by men 
without number, who assert that themselves have been agents 
in the transaction^, and also hearers of the words. I nuist 
not however pass it by altogether unnoticed, lest when thus 
writing concerning the island Brittia, I should bring u])on 
myself an imputation of ignorance of certain circumstances 
pei*petually happening there. 

I) d 2 



404 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

" They say then, that the souls of men departed are always 

conducted to this place ; but in what manner I will explain 

immediately, having trequently heard it from men of that 

region relating it "aost seriously, although I would rather 

ascribe their asseverations to a certain dreamy faculty v^^hich 

possesses them. On the coast of the land over against 

this island Brittia, in the ocean, are many villages, inhabited 

by men employed in fishing and in agriculture ; and who 

for the sake of merchandize pass over to this island. In 

other respects they are subject to the Franks, but they never 

render them tribute ; this burden, as they relate, having been 

of old remitted to them for a certain service which I shall 

immediately describe. The inhabitants declare that the 

conducting of souls devolves on them in turn. Such of 

them, therefore, as on the ensuing night are to go on this 

occupation in their turn of service, retiring to their dwellings 

as soon as it grows dark, compose themselves to sleep, 

awaiting the conductor of the expedition. All at once, at 

night, they perceive that their doors are shaken, and they 

hear a certain indistinct voice summoning them to their 

work. Without delay, arising from their beds, they proceed 

to the shore, not understanding the necessity which thus 

constrains them, yet nevertheless compelled by its influence. 

And here they perceive vessels in readiness, wholly void of 

men, not however their own, but certain strange vessels, in 

which embarking, they lay hold of the oars, and feel their 

burden made heavier by a multitude of passengers, the boats 

being sunk to the gunwhale and rowlock, and floating scarce 

a finger above the water. They see not a single person ; 

but having rowed for one hour only, they arrive at Brittia : 

whereas when they navigate their own vessels, not making 

use of sails but rowing, they arrive there with difficulty even 

in a night and a day. Having reached the island, and been 

released from their burden, they depart immediately ; their 

boats, becoming light, suddenly emerge from the stream, and 

sink in the water no deeper than the keel. These people 

see no human being either while navigating with them, or 

when released fi'om the ship. But they say that they hear 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 405 

a ceilain voice there, which seems to announce to such as 
I'eceive them the name of all who have crossed over with 
them, and describing the dignities which they formerly 
possessed, and calling them over by their hereditary titles. 
And also, if women happen to cross over T\-ith them, they 
call over the names of the husbands with whom they lived. 
These then are the things which men of that distiict declare 
to take place : but I return to my former narrative." 

Page 5. line 4. Stonehenge, Avebiinj, and the RoUright 
stones, c^c] " There is," says Norden, in his account of 
Cornwall, p. 74, " a rock upon the topp of a hill near Bliston, 
on which standeth a beacon ; and on the topp of the rock 
lyeth a stone, which is three yards and a haulfe longe, four 
foote broad, and two and a haulfe thicke ; and it is e(][ually 
balanced, that the wind will move it, whereof I have had true 
experience. And a man with his little finger can easily stirr 
it, and the strength of many cannot remove it." These Logan 
stones appear to have been common to many countries. 
Thus Apollonius Rhodius, in his Argonautics, gives us an 
account of such an one raised by Hercules, in the island of 
Tenos, as a monument to Calais and Zetes, whom he slew, 
because they prevented the ship Argo from sailing, when the 
wind was favourable. 

— H T£ 0"<p< CTTvyegrj Ticng stt^st oTrla-a-co 
XegfTjv u(p' 'HgaxXijof, 6 jtx,jv Si'^£0"fi«< 'igvxov 
"AflXwv yoig TlsXluo dehvTrorog a^J/ dvlovras 
T'^vcp Iv ctjiKpjguTjj 7re(pvev, Jtai a.fji,rj(raTO yaluv 
'AiA<p' avTol;, (TTrjXug re 8u«j xaQvTrsg^sv ereu^ev' 
Hv ^Tegri, fiajtA/Sof Trsgicua-tov avdga.(ri \s6(T(rsiVf 
KivuT«j rj^^svTog uTto TTVoifi liogiao, 

" From Pelias' liles returned, they met their doom. 
Alcides' hand, which slew them, raised their tomb 
In Tenos' isle : — a mound of earth appcar'd, 
And one vast column on another rear'd. 
Pois'd there by wondrous art, the stone above, 
Toiicird bv the n(jrthern l)last, is seen to move." 



INDEX 



Aaron and Julius, citizens of Chester, martyred, 277. 

Adelfius, a British bishop, 296. 

Adminius, son of Cunobelin, flees to the court of Caligula, 71. 

^tius, Roman general in Gaul, 389. applied to for help by the 

Britons, 389. 
Agi'icola, his first campaign in Britain, 99. distinguishes himself 

under the command of Cerealis, 121. is appointed governor of 

Britain, 123. his reforms, 125. his campaigns, 125 — 150. his 

recal and cold reception by the emperor, 151. 
Agricola, Calpurnius, commands in Britain, 205. 
Alaric, threatens the empire, 345. his death, 354. 
Alban, Saint, his history and martyrdom, 273 — 280. 
Albinus, rival of Severus, 205. governor in Britam, 209. his history, 

209, 220—229. 
Alexander Severus, emperor, 251. 
Allectus, murders Carausius and reigns in Britain, 267. is defeated 

and slain by the anny of Constantius, 270. 
Alypius, vicar of Britain, 316. 
Amber found in Britain, 163. 

Ambiliati, QAmbiani ?] a people near Amiens in France, 16. 
Ambrosius Aurelius, a Roman-Briton, 383, 393. 
Ammianus Marcellinus, quoted, 306. 316. 
Amolgith, the seven kings his sons, 380. 
Antiquities found in Britain, of uncertain origin, 6. 
Antoninus Pius, reign of, 201. 
Arcadius, emperor of the east, 344. 
Arcani, a class of political agents in Britain, 324. 
Aristobulus, never in Britain, 192. 
Aristotle, quoted, 7. 

Arius and Athanasius, their disputes, 314. 
Aries, synod of, 295. 
Arminius, a British deacon, 296. 
Armoricans, a Celtic race, 397. 
Arthur, King, his exploits mixed with fable, 393. 



408 INDEX. 

Athanasius and Arius, their disputes, 314. 

Attacots ravage Britain, 316. 319. eat human flesh, 317. 

Augustus, neglects Britain, 57. 58. 

Aurelian, emperor, 253. 

Aurelius, Marcus, emperor, 204. 

Auxilius, a priest, accompanies St. Patrick to Ireland, 378. 

Avebury, of uncertain origin, 5. 

Badon Hill, victor}' over the Saxons at, 393. 

Baskets made in Britain, 162. 

Bede, quoted, 273. 281. 

Beric, a British prince, in exile at the court of Claudius, 73. 

Boadicea, her ill-treatment by the Romans. 100. she revolts, 101. 

defeated by Suetonius, 108. 
Bodotria, the Forth, 130. 133. 
Bolanus, Vettius, governor of Britain, 115. 
Bonosus, usurper in Gaul, 253. 
Britain, its early history obscure, 3. again becomes free, 357. its 

agricultural and pastoral tendencies, 357. its remains of antiquity, 

358. its religious disputes, 361. 
Britannia prima, a province of Britain, 323. 
Britannia secunda, a province of Britain, 323. 
Brutus, first king of Britain, fabulous legend of, 47. 

Caesar's conquests in Gaul, 14. sets sail for Britain, 19. battle in the 
water, 21. he returns to Gaul, 27. he prepares for a second invasion 
of Britain, 29. sets sail at sunset, and lands without opposition, 35. 
battles with the natives, 36 — 44. Csesar leaves Britain finally, 44. 

Caledonians, their resistance to Agricola, 133. 135. 

Caligula, his ridiculous expedition against Britain, 72. His tower, 
72, note. 

Camalodunum burnt, 105. 

Caracalla and Geta, their dissolute life, 235. 

Caracalla, emperor, 249. 

Caractacus, king of the Silures, his brave resistance to the Romans, 25. 
is defeated at Caer Caradoc, 85. given up to the Romans by Cai'tis- 
mandua, 87. his captivity and noble bearing at Rome, 88. 

Caracul, same as Caracalla, 249. 

Carausius, admiral of the Roman fleet at Boulogne, 256. the war of 
Cavos, 260. assumes the purple in Britain, 257, coins of Carausius, 
263. is murdered by Allectus, 267. 

Carinus and Numerian, emperors, 255. 



INDEX. 409 

Cardsmandua, a Roman lady, and queen of ihe Brigautes, 87. 93. 

Car us, emperor, 255. 

Cai villus, a British king, 43. 

Cassibellaunus, opposes Caesar, 41, &c. his fabled letter to Caesar, 49. 

Cato, fabulous story of the British ambassadors, 395. 

Catullus, his verses concerning Britain, 57. 

Celestius, a follower of Pelagius, 363. 

Celtic origin of the Britons, 7. 

Cerealis, Petilius, governor of Britain, 121. 

Cherry-tree introduced into Britain, 163. 

Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse, 296. 

Christianity, not taught in Britain before A. D. 120., p. 179, &c. 

attracts the notice of the emperor, 291. was but of little benefit to 

Ancient Britain, 360 
Chrysanthus, appointed vicar of Britain by Theodosius, 343. made 

bishop, 344. 
Chrysostom quoted, 189. 

Cicero's letters, written whilst Caesar was in Britain, 54. 
Cingetorix, a British king, 43. 
Claudia Rufina, a lady of British birth, 196. 
Claudian quoted, 344. 
Claudius undertakes the conquest of Britain, 72. goes to Britain, 77. 

retm-ns to Rome after a stay of sixteen days in the island, ib. 
Clement of Rome quoted, 188. 
Clota, the Clyde, 130. 

Cogidunus, a British king, tributary to the Romans, 89. 
Coins, British, earlier than the Romans, none, 6. coins of Britain, 70, n. 

coins commemorative of the conquest of Britain, 79. 
Comala, 247. 

Commodus assassinated, 219. 

Constans sole emperor after his brother's death, 302. in Britain, 303. 
Constans, son of Constantine, is put to death by Gerontiua, 354. 
Constantino the Great, emperor, son of Constantius Chlorus and 

Helena, 283. escapes to his father in Britain, 284. sends a pacific 

message to Galerius, who confers on him the title of Caesar, 289. 

character of, 297. invades Italy, 290. defeats Maxentius, ibid, sole 

emperor, 291. his supposed vision, 293. 
Constantine II. and his two brothers, joint emperors, 301. is slain 

near Aquileia, 302. 
Constantine, a private soldier, made emj)eror in Britain, 347. invades 

Gaul, ibid, raises his son Constans to the rank of Caesa)-, 350. is 

{•ut to death, 355. 



410 INDEX. 

Constantius Chlorus made Caesar, 259. 

Constantius, Count, appointed by Honorius to oppose Gerondus and 

Constantine in Gaul, 354. 
Council of Nice, 297. of Sardica, 304. of Rimini, 315. 
Crassus, Publius, discovers the tin-islands, 11, 
Cruachan Eli, a hill in Connaught, 380. 
Cunobelin [the Cymbeline of Shakespere] king of Britain, 69. 

Diablintes, a people near Fougeres in France, 16. 

Didymus, a relative of Honorius, taken prisoner by Constans, 351. 

Didius Gallus Avitus, governor of Britain, 92. 

Didius Julianus emperor, 211. 

Diocletian emperor, 255. his persecution of the Christians, 273. 

Dion's account of the expedition of Flautius, 74. 

Dogs of Britain, 63. 

Domitian emperor, 131. 

Donatists, schism of the, 295. 

Dorotheus quoted, 191. 

Druids, a caste of priests, 165. Cesar's account of them, 166. Dio- 
dorus Siculus and Strabo's accounts of the Druids, 171. Pomponius 
Mela's account copied from the fonner, 174. Pliny's account, 175. 
Ammianus's, 177. 

Eborius, a British bishop, 296. 

Elagabalus, emperor, 251. 

Elephant in Caesar's army, 52. n. 

Ennius, quoted, 371, n. 

Eroc, a German king, accompanies Constantine into Britain, 398. 

Eumenius, quoted, 203, 264, 286, 309. 

Eusebius, quoted, 188. 

Fastidius, a British semi-pelagian bishop, 365. 

Faustus, a British semi-pelagian bishop, 365. 

Fingal, 247. 

Flavia, a province of Britain, 323. 

Fortunatus, quoted, 273. 

Fullofaudes, duke, 318. 

Galba, emperor. 111, 112. 

Galerius, emperor, 283. recals Diocletian's edict of persecution, 292. 
Galgacus, king of the Caledonians, his speech to his soldiers, 137. 
Gallienus, 253. 



INDEX. 411 

GeoflVey of jMoumoulh, liis fabulous history, 46. 

Geinuiiiicus C'ccsar, his soldiers shipwrecked on the coast of Britain, 

70. 
GeiTuanus, bishop of Auxerre, chosen to oppose the Pelagian heresy 

in Britain, 366. his miracles in Britain, 369 — 371. 
Gerontius, Count, a prefect of Constantine, 349. revolts against 

Constantine in Spain, 353. is slain, 356. 
Gildas, quoted, 197, 313, 314. 
Glastonbury, tales fictitious, 193. 
Government of the British tribes, 161. 
Gratian, emperor, 326. his indiscretion, 330. is slain, 332. 
Gratianus Funarius, 307. 
Gratian Municeps, made emperor in Britain, and slain, 346. 

Hadrian, emperor, 154, 201. he crosses into Britain, 155. builds a 

rampart across the island, 155. 
Hallelujah, victory of the, 373. 
Helena, revered by the Christians, 397. 
Hengist and Horsa, land in Britain, 393. 
Herodian, quoted, 237. 
Herodotus, quoted, 7, 1 1 . 
Honorius, emperor of the west. 344. his relations, Theodosius, La- 

godius, Didymus, and Verinianus, oppose Constans in Spain, 350. 

his relations taken prisoner, and put to death by Constans, 351. 

writes to the cities in Britain, authorizing them to provide for 

their own safety, 353. 
Horace, extracts from, 60. n. 

lerne or Ireland, mentioned by Aristotle, 8, by the false Oipheus, 9, 

66. 
Inscriptions, 232, 233, 241, 252. 
Instantius and Tibcrianus, banished to Scilly, 335. 
Iserninus, a deacon, accompanies St. Patrick to Ireland, 378. 

Jerome, quoted, 189, 363. 

Jomandes, quoted, 397. 

Joseph of Arimalhea, never in Britain, 193. 

Jovius, ambassador of Constantine to Honorius, 352. 

Julian the Apostate in Gaul, 310. sends Lupicuius to Britain, 311. 

draws supplies of corn from Britain, ibid. 
Julian, a follower of Pelagiiis, 364. 
.Justin, a prefect of Constantine, 348. 



412 INDEX. 

Justus, appointed general in Spain by Conslaus, 353. 

Laitus, temporizes at the battle of Lyons, 227. 

Lampridius, quoted, 251. 

Legion, Roman, sent to assist the Britons, 385. is withdrawn, 385. 

probably paid for their services, 385. again sent, ib. 
Lexovii, people near Lisieux in France, 16. 
Libanius, quoted, 303. 

Licinius, his insincerity towards Constantine, 291. 
Logan stones, principally in Cornwall, 5. 
Lollianus, coins of, found in Britain, 253. in Tenos, 405. 
Loigere, an Irish king, 379, 
Lollius Urbicus, lieutenant in Britain, 202, 204. 
London, a rising city of Britain, 158. 
Lucius, a British king, said to have been converted to Christianity, 

211. his supposed letter to Pope Eleutherius, 397. 
Lucretius, his verses concerning Britain, 59, n. 
Lucullus, Sallustius, governor of Britain, 153. 
Lupicinus, in Britain, 312. 
Lupus, bishop of Troyes, goes to Britain with Germanus, 366. 

Macrinus, emperor, 251. 

Mseatse, a tribe of North Britons, 230. 

Magnentius, a Briton, slays Constans, 305. 

Marcus, made emperor in Britain, and slain, 346. 

Marius, coins of, found in Britain, 253. 

Martial, quoted, 162, 196. 

Martin, vicar of Britain, 307. slays himself, 308. 

Massalia, Marseilles, 77. 

Maxentius, son of Maximian, assumes the purple in Italy, 289. 

Maximian, colleague of Diocletian, 255. reassumes the sovereignty^ 
289. 

Maxima Flavia, a province of Britain, 323. 

Maximus Clemens, revolts in Britain, 327. called Macsen Wledig 
in Welsh, 329. invades Gaul, 331. confers lue title of Caesar on 
his son Victor, 333. makes a treaty with Theodosius, 334. per- 
secutes the Priscillianists, 335. invades Italy, 338. takes refuge in 
Aquileia, 339. is taken prisoner and slain, 340. his army said to 
have retired to Armorica, 342. 

Menapii, people of modern South Holland, 16. 

Menologies, quoted, 191. 

Moriiii, people near Boulogne in France, 16. 



INDEX. 413 

JVIost}!!, Sir Thomas, his letter ahout the British torques, 397. 
Mursa, battle of, 306. 

Nannetes, people of Nantes in France, 16. 

Nazarius, bis account of Constantine's vision, 294. 

Nectaridus, count of the sea-coast in Britain, slain, 318. 

Nemesian, quoted, 163. 

Nennius, brother to Cassivellaun, a fictitious character, 49. 

Nero, emperor, 96. 

Nerva, emperor, 154. 

Neviogasles, a prefect of Constantine, 349. 

Nice, council of, 297. 

Niger, rival of Severus, 205. 

Onomacritus, quoted, 9. 

Orcades, [ the Orkney islands,] 67. 

Orestii, 149. 

Orosius, quoted, 329, 364. 

Osismii, people near Brest in France, 16. 

Ossian's poems, 247. 

Ostorius Scapula, governor of Britain, 83. defeats the Iceni, the 
Cangi, and Brigantes, 84. founds the colony of Camalodunum, 
85. decline of his prosperity, and disasters of his troops in Britain, 
91. his death, 92. 

Otho, emperor, 1 13. 

Ovid, extracts from, 60, n. 

Pacatian, vicar of Britain, 299. 

Paganism, still existing in Britain, in A.D. 243, p. 252. 

Palladius, governor in Britain, deposed by .Julian, 316. 

Palladius, is sent to convert the Irish, 377. 

Patricius, is sent to convert the Irish, his history, 377 — 380. 

Paul, Saint, never in Britain, 185, 193. 

Paulus Catena, sent to Britain, 306. 

Pearls found in Britain, 159. 

Pelagius, his history and heresy, 361, &c. Pelagian heresy is revived, 

374. 
Perennis, his corrupt administration, 207. 
Pertinax, sent to Britain, 208. anocdoto of the horse Pertinax, 209, 

note, is made emperor, — murdered, 211. 
Peter, Saint, never in Britain, as stated by Simeon Metapbrastes, 
192. 



414 INDEX. 

Petronius Turpilianus, governor of Britain, 109. his mild and gentle 

administration. 111. is put to death, ibid. 
Philip, emperor, not a Christian, 291. 
Phoenicians trade with Britain, 10, 11. 
Picts and Scots ravage Britain, 309, 316, 343, 383, 387. checked 

by Chrysanthus, 343. 
Plautius, Aulus, his expedition to Britain, 73. 
Poetry, the earliest form of composition, 246. Remains of Gallic 

poetry, 247. 
Polybius, quoted, 8. 

Pomponia Grsecina, wife of Aulus Plautius, 193. 
Postumus, coins of, found in Britain, 253. 
Probus, emperor, 254. 
Procopius, quoted, 398. 
Propertius, extract from, 59, n. 
Prosper, of Aquitaine, 330, 365. 
Pudens, husband of Claudia, 196. 

Restitutus, a British bishop, 296. 

Richard, of Cirencester, 232. 

Rimini, council of, 315. 

Rhiothimus, a British king, leads 12000 men into Gaul, 397, 

Rollright stones, of uncertain origin, 5. 

Sacerdos, a British presbyter, 296. 

Sardica, council of, 304. 

Sarus, is sent against Constantino and slain, 349. 

Saturninus Seius, a pilot, in Britain, 201. 

Saxons savage Britain, 316. join the Picts in ravaging Britain, 

372. see note. 
Scseva, one of Caesar's soldiers, his adventure, 51, n. 
Segerus, a priest, accompanies St. Patrick to Ireland, 378. 
Segonax, a British king, 43. 
Semipelagians, sect of the, 365. 

Sena, [Sain on the coast of France,] Prophetesses of, 174. 
Severus, Julius, governor of Britain, 157. 
Severus, is proclaimed emperor, 220. defeats Niger, 222. quarrels 

with Albinus, 223. defeats Albinus at the battle of Lyons, 226. 

prepares to go to Britain, 235. his campaign in Caledonia, 237. 

he builds a wall from sea to sea, 241. fixes his residence at York, 

241. determines on a second campaign in Caledonia, 244. dies at 

York, 245. 



INDEX. 415 

Severus, bishop of Treves, accompanies Germaiius on his second 

mission to Britain, 374. 
Severiis, receives from Galerius the title of Augustus, 289. 
Severus, count of the domestics, slain in Britain, 318. 
Silures, defeated by Ostorius Scapula, 86. 
Simon Zelotes, never in Britain, 191, 193. 
Stilicho, tranquillizes affairs in Britain, 344. sends Sarus against 

Coustantine, 349. dies at Ravenna, 351. 
Stonehenge, of great and uncertain antiquity, 5. 
Strabo, quoted, 10. extract concerning Britain and the Britons, 

58, 62. &c. 
Suetonius Paulinas, governor of Britain, invades the Isle of Anglesey, 

98. is recalled by Boadicea's revolt, 104. defeats Boadicea, 108. 
Sulpicius Severus, quoted, 315. 

Tacitus, his account of Suetonius Paulinus, 99. 

Taporus, a title of Magnentius, 305, note. 

Taurus, the prefect, convokes the council of Rimini, 315. 

Taximagulus, a British king, 43. 

Tertullian, quoted, 188. 

Tetricus, coins of, found in Britain, 253. 

Theodoret, quoted, 190. 

Theodosius the elder, sent to Britain, 319. restores tranquillity in 

Britain, 320, &c. 
Theodosius, emperor, 327. defeats Maximus and restores Valentinian 1 1. 

339. 
Theodosius 11. emperor, 348. 
Thule, [Shetland, Iceland, Norway?] 67, n. 
Tiberius neglects Britain, 69. 
Tin found in Britain, 65. 
Tin islands, called Cassiterides by the ancients, 10. the same as the 

Scilly islands, 12. 
Titus, emperor, 127. 
Tollman, rock in Cornwall, 5. 
Trajan, emperor, 154, 200. 

Trebellius Maximus, governor of Britain, liis inacliviiy. III. 
Trutulensis portus, 150. 
Tzetzes, quoted, 395. 

Ulpius Marcellus, commands in Britain, a strict disciplinarian, 206 

207. 
Usijjian cohort, adventure of, 135. 



416 INDEX. 

Valens, dies, 327. 

Valentia, province of Britain, 323. 

Valentine, or Valentinian, makes a conspiracy against Theodosius in 

Britain, 321. 
Valentinian I. emperor, 317. associates his brother Valens, 317. 
Valentinian II. emperor, 326. flees from Maximus, 330. 
Veneti, a tribe of Gaul, occupying the country near L'orient, 16. 
Venusius, husband of Cartismandua, his campaigns against the 

Romans, 93. 
Veranius, governor of Britain, 97. 

Verinianus, a relative of Honorius, taken prisoner by Constans, 351. 
Verulam, Verlamacestir, or Varlingacestir, now St. Alban's, 277. 

burnt, 105. 
Vespasicin and his son Titus distinguish themselves in Britain, 75. 

emperor, 116. supported by the British army, 117, 118. 
Vespasiana, province of Britain, 323. 
Vicars, or viceroys of Britain, 299. 

Victor, son of Maximus, saluted Caesar, 333. slain by Arbogastes, 342. 
Victorianus, coins of, found in Britain, 253. 
Virgil's verses concerning Britain, 59, 60, n. 
Virius Lupus, governor in Britaui, 230, 234. 
Vitellius, emperor, 114. 
Volusenus, Caius, sent by Caesar to reconnoitre the coasts of Britain, 

17. he returns on the fifth day, 18. 
Vortigern, a British king, 391. 

Walls, the Roman, built to repel the Caledonians. 203 note, 242. 

description of the Roman, 242. 
War-chariots, of the Britons, 25. 
Woad, used in Britain, 163. 

Zosimus, quoted, 329. 



BAXTER, PRINTRR, OXFORD. 



